


Some Unfathomed Sea

by jolybird



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Drowning, F/M, M/M, Minor Character Death, Past Child Abuse, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-10
Updated: 2015-06-10
Packaged: 2018-04-03 20:03:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4113184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jolybird/pseuds/jolybird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Cosette' s father sent her across the sea to safety she was too worried about the destination to waste time thinking about what would happen if she never made it. So naturally she's completely unprepared to be shipwrecked with the cute cabin boy and a band of activist merpeople intent on saving them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Some Unfathomed Sea

**Author's Note:**

> Huge thank yous to my beta [soprano_squad](http://archiveofourown.org/users/soprano_squad/) , without whom this story would be an inconsistent mess, and to [raktajinos](http://archiveofourown.org/users/raktajinos/pseuds/raktajinos) for hosting the Heroine Big Bang!!
> 
> All the love to my fantastic artist, ideare--make sure you check out their stuff!
> 
> Also I swear I have fic that wasn't written for a challenge and I'll get around to posting it _someday_.

A desk drawer slammed in the room above and Cosette glanced up from her book. Several more drawers slammed quickly after and she hopped up, placed a scrap piece of paper in her book to mark her place, and then set it down on the settee. As her papa continued to rummage around upstairs, she hurried from the room, an uneasy feeling in her stomach. Cosette thought herself a rational person, she didn’t fly into hysterics over inconsequential things and her papa had the same calm temperament. Her father had been truly upset so infrequently that she could count those occasions on her fingers.

She took the stairs two at a time, hand trailing over the railing. Cosette didn’t have the slightest idea what would have her father aggravated--nothing out of the ordinary had happened recently. The only thing should could come up with was the fact that he kept so many secrets from here. She knew there were things he never told her. _Be patient, it’s not for you to worry about, I’ll tell you if I have to_ he’d say, and nothing in her life was more frustrating.

There had been nights she lay terrified, mind caught up in whatever book she had just read: were there men after her father? What kind of secret couldn’t he tell her? They told each other everything.

She paused outside the doorway, one hand on the doorframe. “Papa?” She asked cautiously, opening the door just enough to see her father inside. He had the fire going even though it was June and she watched as he threw a handful of papers into the flames. Her father spun around when he realized she was there and hurried over to her.

“Cosette, my love—” he began, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“What’s wrong? What happened?” She said as she reached up to cover his hand with her own.

“It’s—We’re in danger.”

“What?” Cosette breathed.

“You’re leaving in the morning for Fairwick.”

She recoiled from him, “ _I’m_ leaving in the morning? What do you mean? What about you?”

“I have business to attend to here. I’ll join you when it’s safe.”

“Papa, I won’t leave without you. We can face this together—as we’ve always done.”

“Cosette, my child, I must see you safe. We’ll meet across the sea. Feuilly has agreed to accompany you.”

“Feuilly?” She knew him from the market. He was only a few years older than her but for as long as she could remember he was always working for one tradesman or another. Back when she had been a child, her papa had introduced him to her and explained that he was an orphan which meant he didn’t have parents. Seeing as Cosette had been without parents before her papa came into her life, she had assumed that meant her papa was going to adopt him too. He never did but they still remained friends. They’d talk whenever they ran into each other at the market or on the beach.

“He’s found you work on a ship. You’ll assist the chef.”

“Papa!” Cosette frowned sharply at her papa’s dismissal of her protests. He was her father. He couldn’t just send her away and deal with this himself. She was seventeen. She was an adult. They were all the other one had; they could get through whatever this was together.

“End of discussion, Cosette.”

“Papa.”

“End of discussion!”

Cosette squared her shoulders and glared at her Papa for a long moment before carefully asking, “What do you need help with?”

The older man sighed, exhausted, “Please pack your things. We can’t leave a single trace of you behind.”

“Should I take what I can’t bring with me to Azelma tonight or wait until the morning?”

“No, Cosette. You cannot see the Thénardier children again. Their parents are too dangerous. I’ll see to it that what you are unable take with you is given to the church after you’ve gone.”

“What do you mean they’re ‘too dangerous’? They’re not—“ Cosette stumbled over what word to use and finally settled on, “ _good_ peopleexactly... but- Azelma and Gavroche are my friends. I’ve known them since you first started taking me to the market with you. Azelma takes care of all three of her younger brothers—they could use what we give them. And I must say goodbye.”

“Cosette, my love, you must believe me when I say you cannot see them again. I can’t risk you.” The only thing that kept Cosette silent was the pain she could see in his dark eyes. “Please. Pack your things.”

For a moment, Cosette debated arguing further but instead just nodded, hugged her father and then left the room, her mind racing.

*       *         *

The next morning dawned dark and cold. Feuilly met them at the docks where he nodded seriously to her father before he gave Cosette a sad smile.

“Cosette…” Her papa began and Feuilly stepped away to give them some privacy. “You mean the world to me and--”

His words made tears fill her eyes immediately, “Papa--please don’t. Please don’t say goodbye. I’ll see you in Fairwick.”

He watched her sadly before nodding, “I love you so much, Cosette.”

“I love you too, Papa.” She whispered, throwing her arms around him tightly. Her papa held her tightly as she started to cry but then pulled back. He looked around as if fearful of onlookers even though the early morning crowd couldn’t care less and then kissed her forehead.

“We’ll be together again in no time.” He promised and Cosette nodded, sniffing and wiping her eyes. Taking a step back, he looked to Feuilly, “Be safe.”

“You too.” He said as he came to stand next to Cosette. Her papa nodded at him again, and then looked to her, trying for a smile but came up short. For a moment she thought he was going to say something else but instead he turned and purposefully strode away down the street.

Cosette watched him go with Feuilly at her side, his hand gentle on her arm. When he vanished from sight, Cosette took a deep breath and nodded. Feuilly took this as the signal to lead her through the crowd toward the ship. Her eyes were red from crying but her stance was strong.

As soon as the ship came into view, she started to cry again. Feuilly stiffened next to her and then pulled her aside. “Cosette.” His voice was soft, gentle. He was so kind.

Cosette placed a hand on his arm while trying to wipe her tears away with the other. “I’m sorry. I—I haven’t been apart from him. He’s—he didn’t tell me what’s wrong—why we have to leave. He’s trying to do this all on his own and I don’t know if I’ll ever see him again. What if he just—what if this is it?”

“Cosette—Cosette please look at me.”

Taking a deep breath, she lifted her head and met Feuilly’s worried eyes. “Hey. I can’t promise everything’s going to be okay but I did promise your father I’d protect you and that’s what I’m going to do.”

“I don’t care about me—who’s going to protect _him_?”

“He has friends on every street. The city loves him. Plus he can’t concentrate on what he has to do if he’s distracted by trying to keep you safe.”

“I don’t like this.” Cosette whispered and Feuilly continued to console her but his voice was just static. She didn’t want to leave him. What if she could protect him from the shadows? What if she asked Azelma and Gavroche to hide her and she went to market in a disguise? What if she took the money Papa had given her and hired bodyguards, or even spies?

But then, who was she kidding. She was sheltered and she knew it. She wouldn’t last a night on her own; she’d never even left Summerhedge before. She couldn’t risk putting Azelma and Gavroche in danger either. Heaven knows they already trouble of their own without her piling more on top of it.

She got on the ship.

 

***

 

Time passed in a blur for Cosette. No sooner had she stepped foot on the wooden deck of the ship then she’d been ushered below to meet the cook, a man named Mickaël with a gruff voice but kind eyes. He had her peeling carrots and chopping potatoes before she could even get used to the rocking of the boat. When they set sail he had allowed her to watch her home fade into the distance from a position below deck next to a cannon. Nearly as soon as she turned away from watching her home disappear over the horizon, she was pulled into the daily routine of life on a ship.

Shortly after the breakfast rush had abandoned the galley on the second day, Cosette sat on the edge of a bench, a cup of tea clenched tightly in her hands. She breathed in deeply, trying to recall memories of having breakfast with her Papa.

Footsteps sounded down the stairs and she looked up sharply. It wasn’t that she distrusted the crew, it was more along the lines of she was fleeing from danger and she’d be stupid to let her guard down for a second on a ship filled with strangers. A smile came to her lips and she quietly stood when she saw it was only Feuilly coming to check on her as he seemed to do every half hour. If their roles were reversed, Cosette was sure she’d act the same toward him. Besides, they were pretending to be siblings—the overprotective older brother role came natural to him.

Feuilly turned to his left as if to address someone but frowned. He glanced behind him and Cosette looked up to see a man standing shell-shocked in the middle of the galley. She smiled as Feuilly barked, “Marius.” The man flinched and all but scrambled to sit next to him at Cosette’s table.

Marius looked at her, a smile on his face despite his wide eyes, “I’m Marius Pontmercy.”

“I’m Cosette.” She smiled back, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear self-consciously, all but having forgotten her tea resting in her other hand.

“Cosette.” He repeated like she was something to behold and she could feel herself blush.

“This is Marius’ first voyage too.” Feuilly interrupted abruptly and Cosette glanced back over to Marius to see a frown beginning to form on his lips.

“My father was a sailor. I never knew him. My grandfather refused to speak of him and I met him a week ago right before he died and I decided to leave. To follow in his footsteps.”

“Oh—wow.” Cosette gasped.

“My sister and I are starting over in Fairwick.” Feuilly interrupted again but this time Cosette had questions for Marius.

“Your grandfather kept your father away from you?”

“He did.”

“That’s horrible!”

“I know. It’s why I left.”

Feuilly frown deepened at Marius’ honestly but then sat up straighter. “The reason I bought him down here is because the sun’s getting to him and he needs some water.”

“Right. Of course.” Cosette immediately stood and busied herself getting water for him.

“I’m not used to the sun, as you can tell,” Marius confessed weakly. “Before this I spent most of my time indoors studying.”

“I’m sure you’ll get accustomed to it,” Cosette assured him, handing him the cup of water. “What did you study?”

“My grandfather wanted me to study law but my heart wasn’t in it most of the time.”

“Hm,” Cosette picked up her tea again and took a seat across from Marius. “Are you feeling better?”

“Much.” He beamed and Cosette felt a blush start on her cheeks.

She wrapped her hands around the lukewarm mug and smiled, “Good.”

Marius looked around the room and then placed the empty cup back onto the table. “I should get back out there.”

“I don’t know if that’s a—“ Feuilly began but Marius was headed back up the stairs already. “Okay. Well, I’m probably going to send him back down here soon. Did you see his cheeks? He’s already burnt.”

Now that they were alone, Cosette didn’t want to talk about Marius and his impending sunstroke. “Do you know what’s going on?” she asked without preamble.

“What’s going on with what?” Feuilly sat up straighter and glanced around them as if there was an immediate problem.

“Not with the ship. With Papa.”

Feuilly relaxed slightly and leaned towards her, voice low. “I know less than you. All he said was that I was to accompany you.” Cosette sighed and Feuilly placed his hand over hers. “Everything will be okay.”

“We can’t know that but I appreciate it all the same.”

“I can’t fathom anyone wanting to hurt him. The city adores him.”

Cosette sighed, “I’ve always known there was something he wasn’t telling me. He always said that he’d tell me in time. Well, it’s time now and he’s not here and I still don’t have the slightest clue.”

“Maybe you’re secretly a princess.” Feuilly offered and Cosette couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not. “Or the daughter of a pirate captain.”

“Would he really send the daughter of a pirate captain on a ship out into the ocean? Wouldn’t it be safer to keep me on land?”

“Unless the captain is an old friend of his.”

“An old _pirate_ friend of his?”

“Would he have any other kind?”

Cosette laughed, Feuilly smiled, they heard footsteps coming down the stairs. At first she thought it was Marius, already returning, but it was just Mickaël coming to start lunch. Cosette reached out to take Feuilly’s hand as he made to stand.

“Thank you.” Her words couldn’t possibly express how much his kindness meant to her.

“What are brother’s for?” He answered and squeezed her hand.

 

* * *

 

The fair weather lasted for about a week and a half but when the weather finally turned, it turned with a passion. Cosette hummed loudly to herself as she peeled potatoes to drone out the shouting of the men on the deck above her. They trickled in one or two at a time, desperate for something warm. The storm had woken her in the early hours of the day before and the lurching of the ship had only gotten worse. They hadn’t seen the sky since; the clouds were so dark it was like they were trapped in a perpetually stormy night.

“Merci, mademoiselle.”

Cosette blinked out of her thoughts and she smiled at the man as he placed his mug into the sink near her. His name was on the tip of her tongue but for the life of her, she couldn’t remember it. Another week at sea, though, and she’d know the entire crew. The two men who were with him were named Cyrille and Marin. Cyrille sent her a smile as he passed, “I’d tell you to stay dry down here but, well, too late for that.” He laughed, indicating the way her dress clung to her ankles and was damp all the way to her knees. At first Cosette merely had to use the mop to keep the wooden planks dry but as the storm got rougher that turned useless. Sometime after breakfast that day, Marius had started helping her sweep water into a bucket to dump back into the sea. As the men made their way back up to the deck, Marius clamored down the stairs, empty bucket in his hands. His hair was plastered to his face, and he smiled at her like he was more than a little overwhelmed by the storm.

Cosette dropped the knife and potato she was peeling back into the bucket and went to help Marius. They had a system. Cosette would sweep water into a small bucket that Marius would then dump into a larger bucket that he made sure didn’t slip and topple over in the rocking of the ship. When that bucket got full, he’d drag it onto the deck to get rid of it.

“What’s it like out there?”

Marius looked to her, hand on his forehead, “Wet.” He had to shout to be heard over the roar of the ocean.

Cosette grimaced but picked the broom up from where it lay on the floor in a puddle of water and began to sweep. A clap of thunder caused her to jump and then water sloshed down the stairs, knocking her clear off her feet.

The broom was swept from her hands and across the room, coming to a stop against a bench. Cosette gasped and coughed, trying to catch her breath. Marius helped her to her feet, simultaneously wiping stinging salt water from his eyes. “Are you alright?” He gasped. Cosette paused to look to Marius, unreadable expression on her face.

“That was a big wave.” Her voice wavered, if the wave was big enough to get that much water down here, how must they be fairing on deck?

“The buckets are full again,” Marius laughed weakly and Cosette allowed herself to hold onto his arm for support.

Before either could say anything further, Feuilly slipped down the stairs, hair and clothes clinging to him. “Cosette! Are you alright?”

“We’re going to sink, aren’t we?” She couldn’t let go of Marius’ arm, but he didn’t seem to mind.

His silence was all the answer she needed.

“Of course we’re not going to sink!” Marius gasped as he turned and put his hands on her shoulders. “Don’t think like that. Ships face storms like this all the time.”

Cosette glanced to Feuilly unsure of what to say in the face of Marius’ optimism but she was saved from having to respond by a cry above deck. Feuilly swore and turned to go back up the stairs, “A sail’s come loose.”

Cosette and Marius both darted up the stairs after him. When the boys realized she was coming too, they turned and almost in unison shouted, “No, it’s too dangerous.”

“No! I want to help!”

They hesitated and Cosette pushed between them. The wind whipped at her face and the raindrops were cold and sharp on her skin. Marius cried out next to her and she raced after him as he ran towards something she couldn’t see. He reached up into the air and then he was tugging at a rope. Cosette immediately grabbed hold too and Feuilly was right behind her. All three pulled together in an attempt to tighten the sail as it threatened to pull them off their feet; Cosette herself was nearly on tiptoes. She could feel the warmth of Feuilly and Marius’ bodies pressed against her, the only warmth that existed in this storm.

The next moment was ice and silence. Arms wrapped around her chest and suddenly the ocean raged once again and men screamed.

“Cosette!” Marius shouted in her ear and she realized the man was keeping her afloat. They were in the water. The ship was nothing more than a dark mass next to them and she couldn’t tell if it was even upright anymore. It had to be though, the ship was huge. No wave could topple something that massive.

“Where’s Feuilly?” she screamed, twisting around only to find more dark waves surrounding them. She could see white caps in the distance, impossibly high above them. At first Cosette thought they were mountains; that somehow they were close to land but the next second they were gone and—they were _waves_.

Marius was silent and then he gasped, “There!” He took off, dragging her with him towards something Cosette couldn’t see but then Feuilly was there, supported between both her and Marius. He was cold and Marius screamed but even the short distance away, she couldn’t hear him. They had to get back on the ship. She tried to tell him this but she could barely keep her head above water and her grip on Feuilly at the same time. She reached out to Marius, pulling both of them closer and grabbed a fistful of his shirt. He stared at her panicked, still shouting.

Was Feuilly conscious? He was turned away from her and she screamed but she wasn’t sure if actual words were escaping her lips of if it was just terror. Salt water stung her eyes and her vision became blurry. Waves threw them back and forth and it was _so_ cold.

She couldn’t feel her arm any longer, was Feuilly even still with them? Had he been ripped away by the storm? Cosette focused on her grip on Marius, the way her fingers ached, the phantom ghost that was his skin—until even that faded away into nothing.

 

***

 

Cosette groaned and opened her eyes, blinking from sudden brightness. Gingerly, she pushed herself up. She hadn’t the faintest where she was or what she was doing here or why everything smelt so strongly of the sea.

The first thing she noticed was the sand. It stuck to her face and her clothes. Then she noticed the salt, it made her hair and clothes stiff and her skin dry.

“Cosette!” a voice cried from her left and she squinted at the figure that was making their way over.

“Marius?” she gasped.

“How are you? Does anything hurt? Feuilly went to look for water but he should be back any minute. I didn’t think you were breathing at first and I was terrified—we both were.”

“Wait—what’s going on?” She looked around her and realized she was on a beach, but near the trees, under their shade. The waves lapped lazily against the sand only a short distance away.

“Our ship sank?” Marius reminded her.

“Oh.” That was right. The ship. Her father was home. In danger.

“Cosette—“ Marius asked again, kneeling next to her, hands hovering out in front of him. “Are you alright? What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

Her head pounded and she felt like a sack of flour tossed around. Her lungs ached and her throat felt raw. The ship had sunk. They had been in the water with those massive waves. She was alive. Marius and Feuilly both were alive.

“I’m fine,” She assured him, right before she broke out into a coughing fit. Marius gently placed a hand on her back and she leaned into him as the coughs ceased and she caught her breath. “I’m fine.” She repeated, more firmly this time.

“Are you sure?” Marius leaned towards her, worry loud in his eyes. He jerked back and looked over his shoulder at a noise from the jungle behind them. Cosette followed his line of sight to see Feuilly emerging from tree line. She pushed herself to her feet with Marius’ help.

“You’re alright!” Cosette hurried over to him, checking him over for injuries. He smiled and gently pushed her hands down.

“I’m fine.”

Cosette shook her head, she couldn’t believe him.

“You were unconscious, Feuilly.” Tears welled up in her eyes despite herself and Feuilly gently guided her back over to a shady part of the beach and sat her down. Marius sat next to her and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

“Marius woke me up on the beach,” Feuilly explained.

Cosette turned to him. “You found this island?”

“No—I just woke up here.”

“So we just—drifted here? Where are the others?” She got to her feet again. “Have you searched the shoreline? If we washed up, there’s bound to be someone else!”

“There’s no one else,” Feuilly’s voice was sure, but that couldn’t possibly be right.

“What? That doesn’t make sense.”

Feuilly opened his mouth to speak but Marius beat him to it, “I swear on my life there were mermaids in the water with us.”

Cosette turned around to see Marius had gotten to his feet as well. Feuilly frowned and went over to him, forcing him to sit back down.  

“Here, sit in the shade. Did you drink any salt water?”

“No of course not. I know it can kill you faster than dehydration.”

“Mermaids?” Cosette asked him, mind still reeling over the fact that only the three of them had managed to make it to the island.

“I remember fins,” Marius told her and Feuilly’s face went ashen.

“Did you walk around the entire island?” Cosette interrupted, “Are there other islands nearby? I don’t understand how only the three of us are here...”

“No I didn’t. Not yet.”

“You two go. I’ll start to gather supplies,” Marius offered.

“No,” Cosette said firmly. “We’re going to stay together.”

Feuilly looked between then and then sighed. “Okay. We’re all going to survey the island together. There has to be water and a place to build shelter somewhere.”

The beach wasn’t very wide at all: thirty feet at most, so Cosette was able to walk near the water and keep her eye on the surf and horizon—there had to be someone else out there. The ship couldn’t have sunk; she needed it to get back to her Papa.

Feuilly walked in the jungle to her left, deep enough so that she couldn’t see him, but still within shouting distance. Marius floated back and forth between the two of them, equally concerned with supplies and the possibility of other crew members. Marius was out of sight with Feuilly when Cosette realized there were tears streaming down her cheeks. She groaned in frustration and wiped them away roughly, her skin was tight and the salt on her palms stung her eyes. Now was not the time to be crying. It didn’t help anything and it would just worry the others. She had to be focused and determined if she ever wanted to see her Papa again. Step one was finding the crew and the ship. There was time to cry later.

Movement in the jungle caught her attention and Marius emerged, eyes on the horizon. A glance to her right showed that he was just aimlessly looking and she furiously wiped her face to hide her tears. His worry was the last thing they needed. Cosette caught his eye with a smile and he came to walk next to her. “He hasn’t found anything yet.”

But that was okay. The sun was still high and they had time. She took a steadying breath and forced herself to continue marching through the sand to where the ship had to be around the next bend.

Cosette held back the tears until they were forced to build a shelter in the shade of the same trees she woke up under. Feuilly and Marius whispered furiously back and forth as they helped her tie branches together into some kind of barricade from the cold night breeze. Her hands shook but they had work to get done if they were to survive this. It had taken less than an hour to circle the entire island and the only sounds other than them were the crashing of the waves against the sand. There wasn’t a speck on the horizon or a single sign someone had walked into the jungle. They were alone.

But they had each other and that was going to have to be enough.

 

* * *

 

The second day consisted of entirely rain. Marius and Feuilly busied themselves with collecting water and Cosette set off on her own to find them some food.

Cosette squinted at something and then slowly walked out on the jetty. She thought she saw… _there_. As carefully as possible she hurried down to the end of the jetty. Right when she was about to dive in because there was someone in the water and they needed help—they were so close to shore—someone cried, “Wait!” and she froze, waves crashing against the rocks, splashing her feet. Two people broke the surface of the water. One was a dark skinned woman, with straight long hair draped over her shoulders. Her lips were turned down into a worried frown. The other, a man with thick, curly dark hair and dark green eyes that sparkled with interest.

“Here—take my hand,” She offered. Cosette had no idea why they were so calm.

“No—it’s—“ the woman began before the man interrupted her, “We’re merpeople.”

“Excuse me?”

“Ép, hold me.” Immediately, he twisted around and leaned back into her. She placed her hands on his upper arms to keep him steady, rolling her eyes good naturedly. He forced his body to float up, showing off his fins.

“Oh my god,” Cosette gasped, but then her eyes went widened in shock, “Did you save us?”

“Ép and R did. I’ve never met a human before. Are they all as cute as you?”

Cosette blinked but smiled before looking at the woman, “Thank you for saving our lives. My name’s Cosette. And you’re Ép?”

“Éponine. And he’s Courfeyrac.”

Cosette bit her lip to stop herself from gasping. She realized why she seemed familiar. She looked like Azelma. And _Éponine_? Could it be? What were the chances?

“It’s nice to meet you and all but could you please get off the slippery rocks before you fall.” The man said, his hands hovering out in front of him as if to catch her.

Cosette wiped the rainwater from her eyes. “Um—yeah. Right.” Shakily she stood and crept back along the rocks to the sandy shore. From there she looked back to the water to see the two _merpeople_ had come to meet her right before where the waves broke.

Despite what they said—that they had saved her, Cosette made sure to stay at least an arm’s length away,. They were humans with fins—mermaids—and mermaids didn’t exist. Couldn’t exist. Didn’t used to exist until this moment. The two figures in front of her could be anything—she could have sunstroke, it could be a nightmare, she wasn’t going in the water where she could be swept away by a riptide. Or dragged away if they weren’t as friendly as they’d have her believe. She _must_ be dreaming—one of them looked like Azelma and had the name of her missing sister.

“Are you guys all right?” Éponine asked.

Cosette watched her, trying to decipher if she was sincere or not. Finally she gave a breathy laugh, “Given the circumstances, yes.”

“Is there anything that you need?”

Cosette smiled, “We’ve built a shelter on the beach, the boys are collecting rainwater to drink and I’m supposed to be gathering food.”

“ _Is_ there food up there?” Courfeyrac asked, peering behind Cosette as if he very much doubted it.

“A little. All the fruit’s unfamiliar to us and what little there is, we don’t know if it’s poisonous or not.”

“I’ll catch you some fish,” He assured her and then disappeared into the ocean. Cosette watched his figure dart under the surface until he vanished from sight.

“Are any of you hurt?” Éponine asked her.

“Miraculously, no.”

Éponine smiled and nodded as if she were glad. Cosette quickly glanced back in the direction of the others but they were still in the jungle, trying to make containers of palm tree leaves. “What are their names? The others who are with you?”

Turning back to her, Cosette could scarcely believe she was making small talk with a mermaid, “Marius and Feuilly.”

“Marius.” Éponine repeated, “Is that the dark haired one?”

“Yeah. How could you tell?”

“Lucky guess.” If the rain wasn’t playing tricks on her, it looked like she was blushing a little. Éponine spun around in the water and then Courfeyrac popped back up, “That was fast.” Éponine commented dryly.

Courfeyrac shrugged and then lifted his hands to show that he had caught four fish in the not even ten minutes he had been gone. “What can I say, I have a natural talent.”

“Don’t listen to him, it was probably just luck.”

“I’m wounded,” He sighed dramatically before handing Cosette the fish. She grimaced and recoiled the moment the scale skin touched her own but then she steeled herself and grabbed them by the tails, cradling them in her arms so she wouldn’t drop them back into the surf. Courfeyrac cooed at her, “You’re so precious.”

“I’m not used to any of this,” Cosette couldn’t help the desperate tone in her voice and Courfeyrac smile became kind.

“You’re not alone.” Éponine’s eyes had a determined glint to them as they darted between Cosette and the jungle behind them.

“But unfortunately, we can’t stick around all the time. Éponine, we’ve got to get back. We only had a small window today.”

She sighed. “Yeah. Be safe, okay, Cosette? Don’t eat poisonous fruit. I’ll be back tomorrow. I’ll bring you more food.”

“Really?”

“I promise. Nothing bad’s going to happen to any of you.”

Cosette wanted to ask what they meant by them only have a small window but held her tongue as she waved back and watch them dive down beneath the surf. She followed Éponine’s last glance back down the beach towards the others, arms laden with fish.

 

Feuilly and Marius were back at their shelter when she got back, trying to refortify the ceiling and create some kind of barrier between them and the rain. Feuilly noticed her first even though he had his back to her and Marius was facing in her direction, apparently too invested layering leaves.

“Cosette!” the older man gasped. “Wow—those fish look excellent. How did you catch them?”

“I had help,” She admitted and Marius’ eyes lit up as Feuilly’s darkened.

Marius spun around with a leaf clutched in his hand, “What? Did the mermaids come back?”

Cosette only offered a small hesitant smile and Feuilly’s face drained of color, “Here—drink something.”

“No—it’s alright. I’m perfectly fine.”

“You just told us you were talking to mermaids while we were collecting water.”

Cosette frowned; she didn’t know how to explain it to him. When Marius said he remembered fins, Cosette rationalized that as sharks or dolphins or something _real_. Real now apparently included mermaids. Okay.

She couldn’t waste more time hung up on the existence of their rescuers; they had been rescued and now she had to move on.

Feuilly handed her a large leaf filled with rainwater, which she greedily drank from—hallucinating or dreaming or not, she was thirsty. She passed the leaf to Marius carefully, and then turned to their makeshift fire pit situated under the haphazard protection of palm leaves. “I’m going to try to start a fire so we can cook the fish.” Cosette looked to Feuilly, who still watched her with wary eyes, “If my arms get tired, can you jump in?”

“Of course.”

Marius had taught them how to start a fire but he was yet to have any kind of luck at all with actually producing anything himself. Yesterday, however, Cosette had managed to create a coal which Feuilly blew into a flame. Cosette leaned over the pile of debris that was still mostly dry. Their shelter was really an architect marvel.

Feuilly swore and Cosette abandoned the fire to help him hold up the wall he had accidently bumped into. It was a miracle it hadn’t fallen down on top of them yet.

 

* * *

Day three dawned sunny and bright but their slightly tilted shelter had turned into a soggy mess. Feuilly and Marius both woke in extraordinarily terrible spirits. Feuilly had stormed off before Cosette was awake presumably to search the one section of the island they had yet to explore for food and water. Marius sat in the shade trying to carve rocks and wood into tools and cups, as he had been since daybreak. He was fixated on the fact that the hot tropical temperature was going to evaporate their collected water supply. Their only real hope was more rain and today there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

Then again, the sky had been cloudless the morning before the storm as well.

The storm.

The ship.

The _crew_.

Cosette pushed herself up. “I’m going for a walk.”

“Please don’t go too far.” Marius’ voice was rough and it wavered. Her heart broke for him. It wasn’t fair. The ship should have been strong enough against the waves.

“I won’t,” she promised, not knowing if it was for his or her sake.

The sand was hot on her bare feet as she made her way down the beach. After the rain, the warmth felt like a blessing.

“Cosette!” Feuilly called from behind her, his voice laced with excitement, “I found fresh water and mangoes!” Cosette spun around and hurried back towards them. Marius seemed to be asking what a mango was but when she reached them, Feuilly took one look at her and handed her a fruit. “Marius told me you were going for a walk. You can eat it on the way.”

“You found water?”

Feuilly smile was blinding, “Yeah. It’s only a small spring but it’s fresh and it should last us a while. There were three mango trees growing by it as well. They were full of fruit.”

“What luck.” Cosette breathed, why were they so lucky? Why weren’t the others?

Feuilly seemed to read her distress on her face because he turned her around, “This morning was rough. Stay out of the sun, we don’t need you burnt as well.” The sunburn Marius had gotten their first day at sea had only gotten worse on the island.

“You’re all right?” Cosette asked, Feuilly had been so upset this morning.

“I promise I’m fine.” he gave her a little push to get her walking but she turned back around, walking backwards for a moment.

“I’m not going far.”

Feuilly smiled, “Good, we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.”

Cosette glanced to Marius, silent since she arrived. He gave her a forced smile and all of a sudden she had the feeling they were keeping something from her. Instead of pressing it, Cosette turned and walked back down the beach, careful to stay near the tree line this time. The sun felt nice but it was dangerous. All three of them were terrified of what was ahead of them and terrified of what they had already lived through. She passed the fruit from one hand to the other as she walked in the shade. They didn’t know where their next meal was coming from or if it was even coming at all. Their only real hope was rescue.

Cosette gasped, “Oh—“ and turned to the jungle looking for some sort of stick. Rescue—of course. How could they have been so stupid—they hadn’t done _anything_ to alert passing ships of their existence. She grabbed a branch that was hanging dead in some vines and pulled it out. Going back to the sand, she began to write ‘SOS’ as largely as possible. She didn’t know why this was occurring to her only now.

Halfway through the O, right about when she realized she was going to have to fill the letters in with rocks and what not to make them stand out, a voice that wasn’t Marius or Feuilly called out, “Cosette—what are you doing?”

The merman was still a few yards away and he looked like he was alone. As she watched however, he glanced down next to him and then ducked down under the water. Cosette walked towards the sea and stopped when the waves lapped around her ankles. Courfeyrac resurfaced a few feet in front of her, this time with an auburn-haired merman at his side. They scooted back towards her—his friend seemed to be barely holding back laughter at their awkward shuffle and when they were finally settled, he beamed up at her, “Éponine couldn’t make it today so I brought Jehan.“

“She’s really upset about it but her mother needed help.”

“I understand completely. Hello, Jehan.”

“It’s nice to meet you. Courfeyrac and Éponine both wouldn’t stop talking about you.” Jehan pulled the green bag off his shoulder and pulled out a small container, he frowned. “It’s heavier above water. But—we have tuna for lunch.”

“I have a mango I can share.” Cosette offered and Jehan peered at it interestedly.

Courfeyrac elbowed him and Jehan looked away, “Right.” He held out what looked like a small square of raw tuna wrapped in seaweed. .

“Um—is it raw?” she didn’t know what to think of it.

“It’s good. Try it.”

She did. “Kind of slimy.”

“But good though, right?”

“We brought you a couple more. You can cook them for dinner.” Courfeyrac handed her a bag that looked like it was made from braided kelp. Glancing inside, she saw some more fish and something that looked like vegetables.

“Thank you.”

“Do you have food?” Jehan asked, frowning.

“A little.”

“Prouvaire, didn’t you pay attention to anything we were saying or did you hear, ‘we found humans’ and then zone out.”

Jehan blushed and then blurted out, “Personally I think Courfeyrac should have carried all the bags seeing as I’m handicapped.”

“You’re handicapped?” Cossette asked as Courfeyrac rolled his eyes.

“Like that’s ever stopped you from doing anything,” he muttered.

Jehan lifted his tail out of the water, a serene smile on his face. “Isn’t it horrid?” His fins were missing and the bottom of his tail was horribly scared with multiple jagged marks.

“Can you swim?” Cosette asked, taking her eyes off his tail to look him in the eye again.

“He mostly glides.”

“Can I introduce you to Feuilly?”

“Why?” Courfeyrac asked carefully, obviously protective of his friend.

“He might be able to help, he’s crafty.”

“Crafty,” Courfeyrac repeated blankly.

Jehan scrunched up his face, “What do you mean by that?”

“He might be able to come up with a replacement fin?”

Jehan’s eyes lit up, “What? Are you serious?”

“…yes? Is that alright?”

“Yeah of course. I mean—I can get around without it but—think of how fast I could go with one.”

“Slow down, Prouvaire.” Courfeyrac warned him but he smiled at how excited Jehan was.

Cosette jumped up, not bothering to fix her skirts. “Wait here, I’ll be right back.” She took off down the beach running back towards the boys. “Feuilly, Marius?” she called out as soon as they came into sight. “There’s something that I want you to see.”

Feuilly scrambled to his feet and she winced, “It’s not rescue.” She placed her hand on Feuilly’s arm, guiding him along next to them.

Courfeyrac and Jehan had their backs to them, their fins were hidden by the water and the angle.

“They weren’t on the ship,” Feuilly announced in a hesitant sort of panic.

“Are they mermaids?” Marius blurted out, causing Courfeyrac to glance up.

“I take it you’re Marius and Feuilly?” he called over. Jehan was quiet next to him, tail curled up next to him out of sight, leaning against Courfeyrac.

“Are you fucking kidding me those are real mermaids,” Feuilly blurted out.

“Rude.” Courfeyrac laughed lightly, a playful frown on his face. He sent a wave of sea water splashing into Feuilly who ducked away belatedly, already impressively soaked.

Jehan gasped and hit Courfeyrac on the arm. “Don’t do that.”

“You two were telling the truth?” Feuilly asked, wiping water out of his eyes.

“As unbelievable as it is—we were.” She wouldn’t have believed herself either. “But I was wondering if there was any way you could think of to help Jehan?”

“What’s wrong?” he asked immediately and Cosette smiled despite herself and a faint blush appeared on Jehan’s cheeks. He glanced around to all of them and then shifted and stretched his fin out in front of them.

“There’s nothing wrong, per say. It’s just a cool thought Cosette had.”

Feuilly winced and Marius gasped, dropping down next to them, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. It was years ago. Doesn’t hurt or anything.”

“Except for when it’s about to storm or Bahorel’s done something exceptionally dumb.”

“Yeah. I’m a little bit psychic.”

“Cool.”

“Yeah.” Jehan smiled at Marius who looked at him in awe.

“Can I see what yours looks like?” Feuilly asked Courfeyrac.

“Oh no I should have brought Bahorel. His fin’s bigger. Do you know how fast I could go if I had a fin that big.”

“I think you go fast enough.” Courfeyrac told him dryly.

“I just need to see what the structure looks like. Don’t worry.”

Jehan and Courfeyrac ended up staying until the sun started to set. Both of them were entirely smitten with the way Marius and Feuilly kept throwing branches and leaves and bark into the water to see what floated and what didn’t. Conversation of how they were going to come up with a replacement fin lasted straight through their trek to get more water and dinner. Cosette was amazed at how well Feuilly was taking the whole thing until later when the two of them were alone at camp. Without preamble Feuilly pushed himself up and began pacing.

“Logically they shouldn’t exist. Never in my life have I ever heard anyone talk about mermaids as if they were things that were real. And yet here I’ve spent the past several hours talking to one and coming up with the design of a tailfin. This isn’t how things go.” He stormed up and down the beach in front of her. “This isn’t a fairytale. Fairytales are just that—tales. They’re all metaphors and fantasy. None of its actually happening. There’s no such thing as witches or magic potions or giants. It’s all imagination and people believing in the make believe instead of what’s in front of them. They make monsters of people who are different. There should be so many more stories about merpeople. Men should be insisting they’re real. They should be warning of monsters in the depths. There’s a whole civilization that we’re blind to. From what I could tell today our societies are extremely similar. They have universities down there. They’re just like us except they don’t have legs—or we’re just like them except we don’t have fins.” He sighed. “We have a long day tomorrow, I’m going to bed.”

Cosette watched as Feuilly redirected his steps and headed towards their shelter. “Goodnight.” Was all she said as he passed and he grumbled something in reply and continued on.

She couldn’t blame him, honestly, just the fact that they were stranded, that they were the sole survivors was too exhausting to think about. Adding that they survived only because some imaginary creature saved them was almost too much.

She didn’t hear Marius come up next to her until he sat down on the sand on the other side of the fire. “Where’s Feuilly?”

“He got really emotional about mermaids and then went to bed.”

Marius paused, mouth open and then scrunched his face up, “Is he okay?”

“Yeah,” Cosette laughed. “It’s been a long day.”

Marius’ smile was adorable and before she could say anything else he blurted out, “You’re really cute.”

She gasped. “Oh.” A wide smile found its way onto her lips. “Thank you.” Marius smiled back and suddenly things didn’t seem quite so difficult.

 

* * *

 

Éponine, Courfeyrac, and Jehan quickly became staples in their lives. A combination of the three of them brought food every day. Without them, they’d be close to starvation since they basically only had four small mango trees to live off of.

Today however, Éponine and Jehan swore they had brought their friend Bahorel, who had yet to make an appearance. They gossiped about their friends at length—mostly Combeferre, Grantaire, and Bossuet (well those were only the ones Cosette could remember anyway—there were more but their names got lost in the onslaught of information). Jehan had told her that Bahorel had seen something interesting and had to check it out and seeing as neither merperson seemed perturbed, she figured he’d show up when he did.

“How are you holding up?” Éponine asked. Marius and Feuilly had finally finished (their words not hers) a faux fin and last she saw, they were both gathering dry wood for their fire. Jehan had his tail on Cosette’s lap, laying on his back with his face under the water. It was unnerving to say the least but he looked like he was happy so she let him be.

“Thanks to you, I’m doing incredible.”

Éponine smiled sadly, “So Marius—“ she began but then a huge wave came from out of nowhere, splashing the both of them.

Jehan sat up and glared out to sea, “Bahorel.” He swore and sure enough, a merman appeared a moment later. He was tan and half of his head was shaved, the rest of his hair flopped over onto one of his broad shoulders.

“Cosette!” He greeted. “I got you and the guys some presents!” He tossed a large bag at Éponine who caught it and frowned as she pulled out part of a cloth object.

Cosette recognized the embroidered pattern and gasped, “That’s my dress!”

Éponine and Jehan both drew in a deep breath, “What were you thinking!”

“I was thinking why hasn’t anyone gone to the wreck yet.” He replied with a shrug.

“It’s too dangerous—it’s swarming with sharks and eels and a whole mess of dangerous things.”

“I can’t believe you did that without telling us. You could have died!” Jehan shouted, a hand running through his hair.

“Is everything alright?” Marius called over, heading towards them. Feuilly trailed behind him, carrying their frankly amazing fin contraption.

“Sorry,” Bahorel apologized quietly.

Jehan pat the sand next to him, “We’re just worried for your safety.”

Bahorel came to sit next to Jehan on the warm sand and Éponine called, “Everything’s fine.”

“Oh my god they’re lobsters,” Bahorel laughed, eyes on the two men approaching, and Jehan hit him.

“Don’t make fun of Feuilly’s hair! And Cosette said Marius’ skin doesn’t always look like that.”

“He’s usually lighter.” Éponine said lightly, ignoring the glances Jehan and Bahorel sent her.

Ignorant of the exchange, Feuilly frowned at the bag of salvaged items. “What’s this?”

“Cups and plates and bowls and some clothes from your ship.”

“Oh. Thank you.” Feuilly looked up in shock.

“I’m Bahorel. You must be Feuilly.”

“Yeah. Nice to meet you.” His eyes held a haunted look that only lessened when he and Marius began to attach the fin.

 

Jehan leaned against Bahorel’s chest with his tail on Cosette’s lap as Feuilly and Marius whispered to each other. They had been fussing with the fin for a quarter of an hour already. Cosette was fairly certain Éponine was asleep on the other side of Bahorel but she couldn’t see her face. Cosette’s fingers trailed over the scars on Jehan’s tail. “Can I ask how it happened?”

“Shark attack five years ago. I wasn’t supposed to make it. There was so much blood and the place was swarming with sharks but my grandmother managed to stop the bleeding and carry me to safety. It was pretty rough for the first couple of months. I pretty much just sunk. But now I can get around on my own. That’s why Éponine and I were so upset when Bahorel went to the wreck alone. Things can get extremely dangerous in an instant.” 

“That’s terrible. Your grandmother sounds amazing though.”

“She is. She actually introduced me to Bahorel.”

“You were a guppy then.” Bahorel smiled warmly down at him.

“We’ve pretty much known each other since birth.”

“Don’t let him fool you, I’m much older.”

“Too bad you don’t act it.”

“I ought you leave you here.”

“And then we’ll be caught.”

“Caught?” Cosette asked, interrupting their banter. 

“We’re not supposed to leave the city’s boundaries.”

“Is it really that dangerous?”

“It’s more about a shitty government than any real danger.” Bahorel's voice was dark but he shrugged it off. 

“I’m a prime testament to how dangerous the sea can be but yeah, things are pretty messed up right now.” Jehan frowned and then moved his tail, “Not too tight, okay?”

“I’m worried about it falling off.” Feuilly frowned and pulled tighter, glancing to Jehan to make sure it wasn’t hurting him. Given that Jehan was attentively talking about other things, Cosette didn’t think it was.

“At first everyone shunned Jehan, they all just pretended he wasn’t there. It was like he had some disease and they were afraid of catching it.”

“Legally I don’t exist. Which sucks because I can’t get a job and I have to rely on everyone else to take care of me. ”

“That’s horrible.” Marius glanced up briefly before looking back down to where he was working on fixing straps.  

“Yeah,” Jehan agreed. “But it’s not that bad. There are several professors who tutor me in secret.”

“He writes for the University paper under my name.”

“I do! And Éponine’s mother lets me work in the back of her shop. I can’t work the front because if someone sees me she could be reported but she pays me on the down low.”

“That’s barbaric what they’re doing to you.”

Jehan shrugged, “We’re trying to change it but it takes time, you know? There’s so much wrong with the city that all we can do for people like me right now is support them on the down low.”

“Say down low one more time.”

“Down low.”

“ _Prouvaire_.”

Feuilly leaned back and interrupted their banter with, “Can you move your tail?” Jehan did and they all watched as the fin started to immediately slip sideways. He frowned but Feuilly moved forwards and tightened the vines and leaf-wrapped branches around the end of his tail. “No that’s good—can you try again?”

Jehan did and Feuilly frowned, leaning forward to pull at the mess he had tied around Jehan again.

“Is this going to take all day?” Bahorel asked, already making his way back into the water.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“I’m not staying in the surf like a beached whale all day.”

“Let him go.” Éponine sat up, waved her hand, and kicked water towards him, “he has as the patience of an octopus.” Bahorel took that as his cue to wiggle his way out from behind Jehan and back into the sea. 

“…are they not patient?” Marius asked quietly as Jehan and Feuilly protested the sudden movement. 

“Not at all.” Éponine whispered back.

“I’m nearly done,” Feuilly muttered darkly and Jehan laughed before wiggling his tail in the water. A smile took over Feuilly’s face and Cosette turned to look at Éponine and Marius. She still couldn't tell if the mermaid had been asleep or had just been keeping quiet. 

“…I had to chase it through three buildings until I could get my doll back.” Éponine was saying and Cosette had to interrupt.

“What did I miss?”

“‘Ponine’s telling me about when an octopus stole her favorite doll when she was a kid.”

“What?” Jehan laughed, flexing his fin in the water as Feuilly studied how it was holding up. His excitement over the possibility of a replacement fin was almost painfully obvious on his face. “You never told me that story.”

“I forgot about it until just now.”

“Okay, I like how it’s looking.” Feuilly stood and stretched out his legs. “Now we just have to test it.”

Jehan awkwardly scooted towards the water, causing Bahorel to laugh loudly from where he was floating aimlessly several yards away from them.

“Oh—here, I’ll help.” Cosette offered, wading into the water, pulling Jehan out of the surf. A wave crashed on them and both laughed, sputtering. Éponine looked to Marius and rolled her eyes. He only had eyes for Cosette, though, and didn't see it. Bahorel had swum over to the pair and was holding both Jehan and Cosette steady now that the water was up to the girl’s shoulders.

“How does it feel?” Marius shouted.

“Well—it hasn’t fallen off yet.”

“One point to the lobsters.” Bahorel called towards Feuilly and Marius. Cosette giggled and glanced to them, Feuilly scowled and Marius’ sunburnt face got, if possible, even redder.

Jehan disappeared under the surface and for a moment he just floated where he was. Then he shot off, circling around them. “Oh,” Cosette gasped, smiling hesitantly. He broke the surface a moment later, eyes lit up in a way that had both Cosette and Bahorel clinging to each other. “It works! I have to tell the others! Thank you—I’ll never be able to repay you—I—Bahorel come on!”

“Jehan wait—“

“Is it okay?” Feuilly called from the beach.

Jehan’s laugh was wild and Cosette reached out to place a hand on his arm to calm him down. He glanced to her, smiled sheepishly. “I didn’t think it was going to be like this.”

“We are not leaving right now. Do a lap of the island first, if it’s going to fall off, I’d rather it be here.”

“I’m perfectly able to swim on my own without it.”

“I’m not looking for it in a kelp bed.”

“Bahorel, that’s the most sensible thing I’ve heard you say all day.” Éponine called to them.

Bahorel turned around to frown pointedly at her, “Why are you being so mean today?”

Éponine yelled back but the words were lost to them. Jehan snuck up beneath Bahorel and pulled him under. Cosette could hear muffled talking for a moment before they both shot off towards deeper water. She made a show of sighing at being abandoned. Marius frowned but Éponine and Feuilly laughed and Cosette swam back to shore with a smile on her face.

“He’s excited?” Feuilly asked.

“Just a little.” Cosette scooped up the bag of cups and clothes and starting pulling things out as she walked back towards the shelter. She spread the clothes out on the sand to dry in the sun with cups and bowls on top of them to save them from an errant breeze. By the time she was done it sounded like Jehan and Bahorel were already back. When she turned around, she watched as Feuilly swam out to meet them. Just a few days ago, she was terrified of being too close to them, let alone letting them drag her out into the depths. Now they not only trusted them completely, but they were completely reliant on them for survival.

Cosette went to sit next to Marius, “Did it make it?”

“I think so.” Marius’ voice was filled with pride. Éponine and Cosette shared a smile behind his back.

“Thanks for doing this for him.” Éponine said softly as she watched Marius carefully.

“I only helped.”

“Don’t sell yourself short.”

“Éponine!” Bahorel called. “Jehan wants to show the others and you can’t swim back on your own.” Feuilly swam back towards the beach and Jehan was nowhere in sight.

She sighed but pushed herself off into the waves, “I’ll see you guys tomorrow if I can make it, yeah?”

“We’ll be here.” Marius assured her and Feuilly, who was dripping wet but still beaming, shook his head with a laugh.

 

* * *

 

Cosette had lost track of the days. Marius probably knew but she hadn’t the faintest. Had it been one week or two? They could have been on the island for a month already for all she could tell. The days all blended together. Their water supply was worryingly low; they needed more rain badly.

Cosette was lying on the sand under their makeshift shelter when she was splashed by the cold ocean water.

“Get up! I brought you some food!”

“Éponine!” Cosette gasped, playing at offended but got up to take the fish from her friend. “Thank you. The mango trees are picked clean.”

“Hey—“ Éponine began, placing a gentle hand on her foot, “You’ll be all right.”

Cosette sighed and walked back to their camp to clean the fish. When she looked up again, Jehan and Éponine had their heads together. Marius and Feuilly had vanished while she had been asleep and still hadn’t returned yet so when she was done gutting the fish, she went to interrupt the merpeople’s conversation.

Jehan frowned and looked up at her, his head tilted back. “You look sad today.”

“I can’t remember how long ago I last saw my Papa.”

Éponine reached out and grabbed her hand, she tugged her down in-between them on the wet sand. The downside to having merpeople for friends was that you were constantly in the water.

“You’re close with your father?” Jehan asked and Éponine rolled her eyes. Obviously she had told him and Jehan hadn’t listened again.

“We were all each other had.”

“You had to leave him because he was in trouble, right?”

“Yeah, and I’m no closer now to figuring out why. I didn’t want to leave but staying would put people in danger,” Cosette glanced to Éponine and the sad look on her face reminded her so much of Azelma that she added, “I was going to stay with these kids I know from the market—the Thénardiers.”

Éponine’s eyes widened the tiniest bit and Cosette’s heart thudded in her chest—had she recognized the name or was she just projecting? She had avoided mentioning them for the longest time because she knew she was being ridiculous. 

“But they’re only children and I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to them because of me.”

“I’m so sorry Cosette,” Jehan whispered but Cosette didn’t look away from where Éponine was staring out into the water.

“He probably thinks I’m dead,” Cosette said without entirely meaning to.

Éponine silently pulled her into a hug and Cosette rested her head on her shoulder.

“You’ll find him again,” Jehan assured her. He leaned back onto his elbows and let the waves roll over his chest. He lazily moved his tail in the water, watching it distractedly. “Not everything is as impossible as it seems.”

“Yeah,” Cosette sniffed, tears welling up in her eyes and Éponine rubbed her arm.

“Tell her about how you managed to get the newspaper column.”

Jehan laughed, “Okay. I think I told you I write under Bahorel’s name but it was an _adventure_ let me tell you.”

 

* * *

 

“Cosette…”

She scrunched up her nose and curled up on her side. She was exhausted. A nightmare had woken her up in the middle of the night and she couldn’t calm herself down. Her sobs had woken Feuilly and he stayed up with her until the sun started to rise. In the dream, her father had been on the ship and she had lost him in the water. She had been dragged away by merpeople to safety while her father slipped deeper and deeper into the dark out of her reach.

“Cosette—Courfeyrac and Grantaire said they have a plan.”

Blinking heavily, Cosette pushed herself up with Marius’ help. “Sorry—“ Marius continued, helping wipe sand off her. “We wanted to let you sleep but—they have a plan.”

“Ok- right... Where are they?”

Marius guided her by the arm over to Courfeyrac and the merman who must be Grantaire. He had curly hair like Courfeyrac but it was darker and he had a scar across his shoulder. The others had spoken about him and the others at length but this was the first time she had actually met him—consciously at least.

“Thank you for saving our lives.”

“Don’t thank me. Éponine was in a panic and I wasn’t going to let you drown. I’m only sorry we couldn’t save anyone else. We almost lost Feuilly a couple times as it was.”

“I—what do you mean Éponine was in a panic?” There was no way she was going to ask about Feuilly slipping away from them in the storm.

“Well—“ Grantaire glanced to Courfeyrac and when he spoke next she could tell he was lying, “She knew there was a ship in the area and when the storm hit she was panicking about something terrible happening to it.”

Cosette frowned and had to push the ship from her mind—Mickaël, Cyrille, Marin and the man whose name she’d never learn.

“But where’s the other lobster?” Grantaire asked, obviously changing to topic.

“Water maybe?” Marius offered.

“I think he’s napping somewhere, honestly.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. He didn’t get much sleep last night.”

“Is he all right?” Courfeyrac asked with a frown.

“Yeah he’s fine,” Cosette didn’t look to Marius because she didn’t want him to see the exhaustion in her own eyes. He’d feel guilty he didn’t wake up too and the last thing she wanted to do was upset him. “So, Marius said that you had a plan?”

Grantaire smiled wide, “Yeah. So you don’t have to worry about anything. But we told Marius before he went to wake you up- we’re in a rush today so we can’t really stay and chat.”

“We have things to gather and people to see,” Courfeyrac’s smile was equally as charming as Grantaire’s and Cosette suddenly wasn’t too sure if she even wanted to know the plan.

“But- what’s the plan?” She asked anyway.

“Don’t worry about it, we have it handled.”

“So you came to say that you had a plan and then just leave after that?” Cosette said flatly.

“ _And_ we wanted Grantaire to meet you because none of the regulars are going to be able to make it tomorrow.”

“You’re stuck with me,” Grantaire said, grinning.

“But we’re getting off the island? Right?” Marius asked sharply.

“Of course, what kind of plan would it be if you didn’t?”

“A really terrible one,” Grantaire offered solemnly as an answer to Courfeyrac’s rhetorical question.

Courfeyrac went to shove Grantaire but he ducked out the way and took off back towards open water. He surfaced a few yards back, “It was nice meeting you two, I’ll see all three of you tomorrow, yeah?”

“I guess so,” Marius muttered and Courfeyrac smiled.

“Hey, you’ll be all right. By this time tomorrow this island will be nothing but a distant memory. Make sure you get sleep tonight—tomorrow’s going to be a long day. I don’t know who else is coming with Grantaire but it might be Enjolras and they’re exhausting together.”

“Will we see you tomorrow?”

“Of course you will,” Courfeyrac laughed. He searched both of their faces before smiling again and heading after Grantaire.

Once they were out of sight, Cosette sighed and tilted her head back and stretched her neck. She looked over to Marius. “How about we go find Feuilly?” She said as she held out her hand to him. He hesitated a moment before finally taking it, a blush spreading across his face.

 

“They have plan?” Feuilly asked flatly. They found him half asleep by the spring, braiding strips of leaves into a bracelet.

“That’s what they said… actually that’s literally all they said.” Marius’ voice was slightly wild and the corners of Feuilly’s mouth turned up in a suppressed smile.

Cosette shrugged, “It’s true.”

“So who has any idea what that plan is?”

“I…don’t actually think I want to guess.”

“Maybe it involves dolphins.”

“I don’t think so.” Feuilly’s voice was sharp but his face betrayed this and showed that he wasn’t actually so decided. He picked up the containers of water he had collected and stood up, “Let’s go back and start on dinner; we can discuss it more while we eat.”

He headed off towards the camp and Cosette made to follow him. She had walked no more than three feet before she was stopped by Marius catching her by the arm. She turned to look at him and his face looked slightly panicked and flushed.

“If something happens tomorrow…if anything goes wrong…I just- I want you to know how I feel.”

“What do you mean?” Cosette didn’t have the slightest clue, was it how he felt about trusting merpeople? Was he nervous because they refused to tell them their plan?

“When I first saw you back on the ship, I thought you were the most beautiful girl I had ever seen,” He explained and Cosette gasped a little and covered her smile with her hand. “These past few weeks on the island…Cosette, you’re incredible. You’re the only one who manages to start a fire, you found Éponine and Courfeyrac. You’re always so positive and we wouldn’t have survived without you.”

“Marius—“ she began because _he_ was the one that taught her how the make the fire and Éponine and Courfeyrac had found _them_ , not the other way around.

“No—you are. You’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever met and I—I want you to know I really like you a lot.”

Cosette smiled so wide that her cheeks hurt, “I really like you a lot too.”

“Good,” Marius sighed in relief and Cosette laughed.

“ _Good_.”

Marius blushed and Cosette smiled. She leaned forward and kissed him quickly on the lips, pulling away quickly. She watched Marius’ shocked expression become dreamy and her heart beat noisily in her chest. She smiled shyly at him and then Marius took her hand and they followed after Feuilly.

 

The next morning Cosette woke up early to take down her SOS signs, she’d be putting people in danger if she left them: a ship could run aground and become stranded in the shallow waters as it was investigating. After a final check of the island, she headed down to the shoreline to wait until they arrived.

“Cosette!” Grantaire called as soon as he surfaced and she quickly made her way into the water to meet him. “It’s ready.”

“What’s ready? You never told us what you were planning, remember?”

“You didn’t tell them!?” Another voice said, frustrated and angry. Cosette hadn’t even noticed this merman’s arrival. He had long, curly, blond hair and his bright eyes were focused on Grantaire in a glare.

Grantaire turned around and shrugged sheepishly, “I actually assumed that Éponine told them. She spends most of her time here.”

“My name’s Enjolras,” The merman introduced himself, turning back to Cosette and holding out a hand for her to take, which she hesitantly did.

“So…what’s ready?” She tried again.

“Where are the other two?”

“Lobsters! Get over here!” Grantaire bellowed and Cosette could faintly hear Marius shouting behind her. Enjolras looked confused, which seemed to please Grantaire to no end.

“He and Bahorel call them that because Feuilly’s got red hair and Marius has a terrible sunburn,” Cosette explained and Enjolras scowled.

“Enjolras had a bad experience with sunburn once. He has a personal problem with the sun now...” Grantaire told her, only just holding back a laugh. 

“I didn’t know merpeople could get sunburnt?”

Grantaire smirked like he had some great secret and Cosette didn’t know what to think of it.

“Are you going to finally going to tell us the plan?” Feuilly asked in lieu of greeting.

Enjolras reached into the pack hanging across his chest and pulled out a glass bottle. He uncorked it, revealing a murky grey sludge. “This potion will turn you into a merperson. You’re going to be staying with us.”

Coming from him, it sounded easy.

“Are you sure?” Marius breathed, skeptical as he stared at the goopy potion.

“Yeah. My grandfather taught me how to make it and he’s the one who made Joly’s potion,” Grantaire assured him.

Cosette briefly remember the others talking about them along with Bossuet. Next to her Feuilly asked, “He was human?”

“He was a child. He doesn’t really remember it.”

“It best if you don’t ask him about it, either.” Enjolras added sharply and Grantaire nodded in a _well duh_ kind of way.

“But—that’s something that can actually happen?” Feuilly continued, trying to grasp what was going on.

Grantaire shrugged, “Yeah and it’s about to happen to you so get ready.”

“If you’re not comfortable we can figure out another way.” Enjolras looked at all three of them in turn and Cosette got the feeling he’d really change their plans this late in the game for them.

Grantaire, however, raised an eyebrow and looked to Enjolras like he was being ridiculous. “Uh, they really _don’t_ have other options… unless you want to try to swim them to the nearest shore.”

“We could.” Enjolras turned to him and Cosette looked to the horizon, trying to imagine what it’d be like to swim all that way.

“Through open ocean?” Grantaire spoke slowly, as if to a child, which only made Enjolras narrow his eyes in determination.

“We’d be fine.”

Grantaire crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. “Okay, Enjolras.”

The blond’s lips turned down into a sharp frown, “It’s not like we’re defenseless and we could always stick near a pod of dolphins if you’re so worried.”

“He can speak to dolphins,” Grantaire informed them dryly. “And no, it’s not normal.”

“That’s so—“ Marius began but Enjolras cut him off.

“He’s being facetious.”

“So you _can’t_ talk to dolphins?” Marius asked.

“He has a telepathic connection to them,” Grantaire explained, just as dryly as before. “Where’s the nearest pod?”

“We don’t have _time_ for this Grantaire.”

Grantaire nodded and whispered loudly, “That means one’s close.”

Enjolras ignored him and passed the first bottle to Feuilly who merely stared at it. The blonde reached into the bag and pulled out two more for Marius and Cosette. It was colder than the water and smelled faintly of walnuts.

“Oh- and Éponine gave me a top for you, Cosette.”

He pulled out a shell top that looked like the one Éponine wore when Cosette first met her.

“Right. Fins. We should probably leave the clothes here,” Cosette said, causing Marius to blush a bright scarlet. She continued, “Marius, Feuilly, give me your things and I’ll bury them with the rest of the stuff.”

“No it’s—“

“It’s no problem. Just turn your back.” Cosette waited until they handed her their clothes and then went to shore. She stripped quickly and pulled the top Éponine gave her on before heading back to the water, potion clenched tight in her hand. “You know,” she said when she reached where the others had moved farther out, “This is much more comfortable than I thought it would be—the top I mean, I didn’t know it was padded with what—kelp?”

Cosette couldn’t reach the ocean floor out here, Marius could, but she was a couple of inches too short. The waves rolled past them and they bobbed slowly.

Grantaire smiled at her, “Are you ready?”

“I’m naked. I’m committed. Is there anything I need to know?”

“It works quick so when you feel your throat start to burn, go under. Breath slowly and don’t panic. Enjolras and I have you.”

“On the count of three?” Cosette asked Feuilly and a beat red Marius who still refused to look in her direction.

“One.” Feuilly began, his face pale. “Two…”

On _three,_ Cosette brought the potion to her lips and all but dumped it straight down her throat. It tasted like a mix of walnuts and vinegar. Marius choked, his eyes watery and Grantaire went over to him, concern on his face. Her lower body tingled and then went numb, she looked down at herself and for a moment she couldn’t see her legs—then she realized that she no longer had legs but a light blue fin and—

Her throat started to burn and her lungs felt like they were collapsing in on themselves. She shot Enjolras a terrified glance and he nodded to her.

“You’re all right.”

Cosette took a deep breath of air and then let herself sink under the water. She held her breath for a long moment and then let it go. Bubbles floated up to the surface which was still inches away from her. She fanned her arms to keep her body submerged and then she squeezed her eyes shut, opened her mouth and breathed in.

Water flooded her mouth and her throat. Cosette’s eyes shot open—what was she doing—she was going to drown and she’d never see her Papa again. They had lasted so long—done so well and—wait.

Cosette breathed in deeply and then out—more bubbles floated to the surface and she forced herself to continue.

“Wow.” Cosette breathed, looking around her with a small smile on her face. Marius however, was talking it less well, he had a vice-like grip on Grantaire’s arms, looking terrible. Feuilly just looked a little sick.

“You okay?” Grantaire asked, glancing away from Marius for a moment.

“I think so?”

“Here, take my arm,” Enjolras offered her his elbow which she immediately grabbed to stop from tilting over.

“Thank you.” She sighed gratefully and glanced over her shoulder to where Grantaire had Marius’ hand in his and Feuilly holding onto his arm.

“Okay, we’re going to go slow and we’re going to go deep. It’s going to take a little while to get back but when we do-”

“When we do hopefully they won’t look like they’re just learning how to get used to their fins.”

 

By the time they reached the city walls, Cosette was only trying to use her no-longer-existing legs every once in a while. Enjolras thought it was terribly funny—she would swim perfectly fine but then she’d dramatically twist to the side from where she was trying to use two legs instead of one fin and completely screw up her balance. Nonetheless, Enjolras had finally allowed her to swim on her own and decided to take on helping Feuilly.

Grantaire pulled Marius towards the bottom of the wall. There weren’t any windows or buildings peeking over the top here.

Feuilly glanced to Cosette, swimming next to him. “I can’t believe you’re a natural.”

“Less talk more swimming!” Grantaire called from ahead of them.

“How do we get in?” Cosette asked, kicking harder so she could be next to Marius.

“Do you see that hole?”

“No—oh wait is it behind those rocks?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t like this.”

“You’re not going to drown and if Bahorel can fit through there you’ll be fine.”

“What he means is that it’s bigger than it looks,” Enjolras said, pulling Feuilly to the front before stopping inches above the sandy sea floor. Cosette, as it turned out, hadn’t quite mastered the whole stopping thing yet and she bumped into the both of them.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Enjolras turned to Feuilly and Marius who were looking at the opening apprehensively. It was bigger than it appeared from afar but they’d still have to go in single file.

“I’m going to go first, then Feuilly, then Cosette, then Marius. If you need to you can push yourself through using the wall.” Without waiting to hear any responses, Enjolras turned and darted into the hole.

“You don’t have to go that fast. Neither of us have anywhere we need to be tonight.”

Feuilly nodded, and awkwardly tried to maneuver his way into the hole. Cosette gave him a small push to get him in and he grumbled under his breath. She laughed and then followed behind him. The wall was thicker than she thought it was but soon they were on the other side and in the city.

“Hey.” Courfeyrac greeted, immediately grabbing hold of Marius as he pushed himself out behind her and went swimming ahead. “I just got off or else I would have gone to get you too. How were they? Didn’t bicker too much I hope?” 

Cosette looked behind her to see that there was a gate in front of the opening.

“It’s for sharks and stuff. Like the roof is.” Enjolras told her as he helped Feuilly regain his balance after he emerged from the tunnel. 

Even though the sun was starting to set and the water was turning dark, Cosette could still see the lattice covering the visible sky.

Grantaire locked the gate and then took her arm to race up to Courfeyrac and Marius.

“I know he’s telling lies about us,” He whispered to Cosette. When he let go of her he turned around to call back to Feuilly, “Hurry up or we’ll be late for dinner.”

“Dinner?”

“Everyone’s going to be at Bahorel’s place tonight. They’re all really excited to meet you.” Courfeyrac explained. “It’s right around this corner actually.”

Cosette didn’t know what she expected of a merperson city but somehow it wasn’t quite this. The buildings were entirely made of stone with patches of coral as if for decoration. It was a whole underwater city. Bahorel’s doorway was a couple of feet from the ocean floor with a door made of driftwood. Coral was growing under his windows like flowers.

Cosette followed Marius inside with Grantaire on her heel—or well, not heel but tail—with Grantaire on her _tail_.

The room was crowded. Merpeople were packed in and lounging on every available surface.

“So—everyone’s here! You already know Éponine and Bahorel and them. This is Combeferre, and Bossuet, and Joly.”

“Musichetta should be here any minute. She works across the city,” the merman Courfeyrac had indicated was Joly assured them immediately and Cosette felt bad that she couldn’t remember hearing about them before. He looked so excited to meet them. 

“I never thought about mermaids having jobs,” Marius confessed.

“I already called dibs, Joly get that look off your face,” Courfeyrac warned him, moving closer to Marius. Joly’s expression of gleeful amusement slowly faded into a pout.

“It’s not fair,” He whispered loudly to the bald merman next to him, who patted his arm in consolidation.

“The three of you are going to be staying here with me tonight,” Bahorel said, changing the subject as he swam in front of the two. “How was the trip here?”

“Cosette is a natural. It’s not fair to the other two, honestly.”

She shrugged. “Papa taught me how to swim when I was little.”

“That a girl! I knew you’d show them up.” Bahorel slung an arm around her shoulder and led her over to the table where some bizarre version of dinner was set up. “Help yourself, everything’s delicious since Jehan and Joly made it.”

Cosette took the offered plate and settled in for her first undersea dinner.

 

* * *

 

Cosette blinked awake and rubbed at her eyes before twisting in the blankets and squeezing her eyes shut. Her movements were sluggish and the voices out in the hall were muffled.

She breathed in deeply and became aware of water in her throat all at once. Cosette sat up sharply, on hand on her chest—she was drowning—why was she in the water—

She choked and tears filled her eyes—the island had been a dream—she was still in the storm—where was Marius—Feuilly—

“Shh—you’re all right, Cosette. You’re okay.”

Cosette stopped thrashing at the familiarity of the voice and it was the shock that a merman’s voice was actually _familiar_ to her that finally calmed her down.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s perfectly all right.” Bahorel assured her as he rubbed her back. 

Éponine glanced into the room. “You okay in there?”

“Forgot I was a mermaid,” Cosette laughed, still leaning against Bahorel.

She frowned in sympathy. “I can vaguely remember what that’s like.”

“What?” Cosette gaped but Éponine only looked back down the hall and then disappeared.

“Marius!” she heard Éponine shout, “I don’t know what you’re doing but I know you shouldn’t be doing it!”

Cosette turned to look at Bahorel, “What did she mean by that?”

“I…don’t know actually. She never really talks about her family, except how amazing her mother is.” Bahorel frowned, glanced to Cosette’s face and then away again. “Which she is, by the way, I’ve met her several times.”

“I remember Jehan said that he sometimes works for her.”

“Yeah.” There was a pause. “You up for breakfast? Enjolras already came and collected Feuilly, I think they’re already planning something.”

“..something like what?”

“Something that you don’t want to know because Feuilly was upside down when he was trying to get out the door.”

“He’s smart, he won’t rush into anything if he’s not confident he can do it.”

“Oh I’m confident both of them can do whatever they’re planning to do, I’m just saying he might be upside down for it.”

Cosette pursed her lips and Bahorel laughed. She pushed herself off the bed and headed out the door. Marius and Éponine laughed from the kitchen, “Why are you here so early?” she asked Éponine.

“I came to check in on my two favorite merpeople!”

“Aw thanks, starfish.” Bahorel pushed Cosette towards the table where Marius immediately offered her some breakfast. It looked like a porridge of some sort and Cosette just wasn’t going to question it.

It was actually delicious, it had a sweet tangy taste and she quickly finished it as the others talked about their plans for the day. Courfeyrac and Combeferre were picking Marius up and he was having swimming lessons.

“Just me?” he asked, looking to Cosette.

“I actually wanted to talk to Cosette about that alone...”

“Oh- um, okay.”

Cosette followed Éponine back into the bedroom and rested against the bed.

“When I was little my parents…they…a mermaid went to them and pleaded with them to take care of her daughter. They agreed to it but the spell they used to turn the mergirl human needed someone to take her place. So they gave _me_ to the mermaid and kept the mergirl. Long story short, Mama tried to find her birth daughter again but found out they were treating her like shit and so she enlisted the help of a human to save her daughter and his name was Ultime Fauchelevent.”

“Papa?” Cosette asked on instinct. She had pushed the resemblance of Éponine to Azelma to the back of her mind and the coincidence that the missing Thénardier girl was named Éponine was just that—a weird coincidence.

Éponine’s response was, remarkably, to nod, “From what Mama told me—I was too young to really remember any of this—but Mama told me he raised her as his own.”

“Papa raised—wait—Éponine—“

Éponine huffed, and then took Cosette’s hands gently. She smiled, just a hesitant curve of her lips and asked, “Would you like to meet your mother?”

Cosette’s eyes went wide and almost pulled away. “Are you sure?” she gasped and then asked, “You’re really Azelma and Gavroche’s sister? It wasn’t just a coincidence?”

“Azelma!” Éponine’s eyes went wide and the grip on her hands tightened, “You know her? And—Gavroche? Oh—the baby!”

“Your mother is…my mother?”

Éponine shrugged, “Small world, yeah?”

“I thought I made it up. How is it possible that you found me?”

“Don’t think about it too much—it’ll make your head hurt.”

She pushed herself up, took Cosette’s hand and lead her down the hall and towards the front door. “All right boys, we’ve got to go, don’t get arrested without us!”

“Éponine!” Marius very nearly floundered from his seat on the couch.

“Marius, we’ll be back soon. You can last a couple of hours without Cosette.”

Cosette swam over and kissed him on the cheek, her mind was reeling and this bizarre undersea world got so much stranger. She followed Éponine out the door and down the street. It was busy in the morning, and familiar. It seemed as if everything had been warped, there was a butcher and an officer and wives gossiping as their children played around them. Éponine took her hand as they neared what looked like a bookshop and led her up to the second story where she paused at the door, “Are you ready?”

“Was that a bookshop?” Was all Cosette could ask—what were the books made out of?

“What? Yes, that’s Maman’s shop.”

“Oh! Right. Jehan told me about it. I didn't know she sold books though.” Cosette ran a hand through her hair and squeezed Éponine’s hand. “I’m ready.” She smiled and pushed open the door, leading her inside.

“Maman, I’m home! And there’s someone I’d like you to meet,” She called as they entered the apartment. Fantine swam in from the kitchen, expectant smile on her face. For a moment the woman was a stranger but then she recognized her eyes--they were the same as the ones reflected back at her from the mirror. 

“Hello dear, any friend of Éponine is a friend of mine.”

“Maman, do you remember that storm two weeks ago?”

“Yes.”

“Well, a ship sank and R and I sort of…rescued three humans.”

“You did what?”

“The one who made Jehan his tail was one of them. And—Maman—this is Cosette.”

“Éponine.”

“It’s true. She knows my parents. Azelma and Gavroche—he’s the baby. Her father is Ultime Fauchelevent, she told me herself.”

Fantine stared at Cosette who felt numb under her mother’s gaze. She never thought this would happen, she had given up and buried the dream.

“Cosette…” Fantine breathed and then Cosette’s breath was knocked out of her by her mother’s arms wrapped around her at last.

“Maman?” she asked quietly, this woman had the same eyes as her--she was so _familiar_. 

“Yes. Yes, it’s me, my love.”

Cosette buried her face in her mother’s shoulder and couldn’t stop the sobs wracking her body. She had her mother but it had cost her her father. Fantine held her until she managed to calm herself down. “Are you all right?”

“Yes. I’m just a cry baby,” She laughed and Fantine hugged her again.

“There’s nothing wrong with that.” Fantine glanced to Éponine, sitting on her hands and pointedly not looking at either of them. She placed a hand on Cosette’s cheek and then she swam over to Éponine. Fantine took her face in her hands, “You’re extraordinary. I can never tell you enough.”

“Maman,” She groaned.

Fantine laughed, “My girls, together.” Her smile lasted for a moment and then faded. She pulled Cosette over to sit with the two of them on the couch. “Was your father on the ship with you?” she asked carefully.

“No. He sent me away for my own protection. There are men after him. He hired Feuilly to accompany me. Feuilly has no ties, no family. He can find work in any harbor. Marius joined the crew this voyage to get back at his grandfather. Now the entire ship is vanished. It’ll kill my father if he thinks that I’m dead. I don’t even know the reason why he sent me away”

“Ultime Fauchelevent isn’t his real name...” Fantine said, watching Cosette carefully as she spoke.

Finally, _finally_ Cosette was going to get answers.

“His real name’s Jean Valjean. He was a prisoner and he escaped. Someone must have found him.”

“I hope it wasn’t the Thénardiers. I’d see them sometimes and they’re horrible people. I’m glad your Papa took you from them.” Éponine said.

“Jean Valjean? He was a prisoner? Why? What did he do?”

“He tried to save his sister’s family, but that’s all he told me. The only reason he told me anything in the first place was because—“

“Because he was taking your daughter and raising her.” Éponine interrupted, “Did he really never say what he did? He could have been a murderer.”

“Murderer or not. He was kind and good and he was the only chance Cosette and I had.”

“My papa’s the best man I know.” Cosette whispered and Éponine took her hand. After a moment, she asked, “Why didn’t he ever tell me my mother was a mermaid?”

Fantine smiled and glanced to Éponine, “He probably didn’t want you daydreaming of a world you could never have.”

Éponine looked away, faint hint of a blush on her cheeks, mouth set in a determined line.

“While we’re on that topic…” Fantine continued and Éponine looked back sharply as if she knew what was coming, “What do you mean you sometimes saw the Thénardiers?”

Éponine shut her eyes and sighed, when she opened them she had a decided look about her. “I used to go to the surface and watch the city.”

“Éponine,” Fantine gasped. “You could have been caught. I could have lost you.”

“I know, I didn’t go often though! Well, not until I saw—“ she broke off and looked to Cosette guiltily. “Until I saw Marius for the first time.”

“Oh.” Cosette gasped. Things suddenly made a lot more sense.

“I had a silly crush on him and I used to watch him all the time. I was following your ship actually, it didn’t go very fast.”

“By yourself?” Fantine interrupted.

Éponine bit her lip and ducked her head.

“That’s why you were there when the ship sank.” Cosette whispered. “That’s why you were there to save our lives.”

“Both of you are so lucky.” Fantine said darkly, pulling both of them to her. She sighed and then laughed, “But then again so am I.”

“How so?”

Fantine hugged both of them again and proceeded to tell the story of Cosette’s birth.

 

“You know I was joking about you being a princess.” Feuilly blurted out from his seat in between Enjolras and Bossuet. Cosette shrugged, helpless from the front of the room where she was telling everyone what her mother had told her and Éponine.

“Félix Tholomyès—king of Rocknesse is your father?” Enjolras all but spat out.

“Where is Rocknesse? I’ve literally never heard of it before today.” Bossuet asked. 

“It’s nearly on the other side of the world,” Grantaire explained. “I can’t believe she came all that way on her own and still didn’t feel safe enough so she beached Cosette.”

Enjolras, however, apparently wasn’t done with his tirade on Félix Tholomyès and continued on. “I don’t know much about him but what little I do know Félix Tholomyès seems like the just the kind of merman who’d cheat on his fiancée and then try to have both the mermaid and her unborn merchild killed. I still can’t believe it actually happened.”

“We can’t do anything about him until we fix things here, Enjolras.” Grantaire reminded him gently and Enjolras glared out the window like that wasn’t going to stop him for long. Grantaire wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled the blond closer to him but Enjolras didn’t stop glaring.

“Wait—Fantine swam _how_ many miles?” Joly gasped, leaning forward.

“I’m not kidding at all—I’m honestly in love with your mother. What are you feelings on having me as a step father?”

“Fuck off Bahorel.” Éponine swam from Grantaire’s side to Cosette’s to hold her hand. “Also, I hope you enjoyed having her stay with you last night because Maman and I already made up the spare room at home.”

“I knew this was going to happen when I woke up and you were already in my kitchen.” Bahorel grumbled, but then shrugged, “I can’t compete with family.”

“You saved your sister’s life without knowing it,” Jehan cooed.

Éponine shrugged. “Coincidence. And anyway it’s only because Grantaire came with me that I was able to carry all three of them.”

Enjolras looked to Grantaire with a smile on his face and he shrugged. “I was the closest.” Then he scowled, pushing himself up, he heading towards the kitchen saying, “I’m going to get a snack.”

Without really thinking, Cosette slipped away from Éponine and followed him. The others started back up conversation immediately and she could hear Éponine laughing loudly.

“Grantaire,” Cosette asked as she swam up behind him. She had to catch the edge of the counter to help her stop but she did it with minimal tilting. “Will I ever be able to go back? On land I mean.”

He looked over to her out of the corner of his eye, refusing to make eye contact. “Why do you ask?”

“Papa thinks I’m dead. We’re all each other has—or well—he was all I had before I met everyone here. I can't trade one parent for the other.”

“Okay.”

“What?”

Grantaire shrugged, “Okay. Give me a bit and I’ll work something out. I agree it’s important.”

“What, really?”

“I’m not saying it’s the smartest thing and I’m not saying the others aren’t going to be furious if they find out but family’s important. I’m going to see if there’s something I can do.” He grabbed a bag of something that looked worryingly like popcorn, linked their arms together and led her back to their friends.

 

The next morning, while Cosette was out getting groceries with Combeferre, Joly, and Musichetta, Enjolras swam up to her from out of nowhere and took her arm gently, “So I heard you wanted to go back on land.”

“Enjolras. No. Don’t put ideas into her head, it’s too dangerous.” Combeferre snapped immediately and Enjolras flinched as if he didn’t realize he could hear him.

“It is?” Cosette asked, that hadn’t been what Grantaire had alluded to. He had been aloof in a way that made her think it was possible.

“Of course. I know it’s dangerous. I wasn’t going to put ideas into her head.” Enjolras sighed dramatically, “I was going to tell her why it’s a bad idea.”

Combeferre hummed like he didn’t believe him at all but the others moved on with the conversation. Enjolras glanced to her and then went over to make small talk with Joly.

Musichetta took her hand and lead her over to a stand. “Have you had red algae and turtle grass salad before?”

“I don’t think so?”

“Well then, here. Lunch. I’m not barbaric like the others, I get it every time I come to market.” Musichetta bought them both salads and to Cosette’s utter relief, it was delicious. Musichetta smiled at her and elbowed her, “I have your back, seagull.” The two made their way over to the others and Joly immediately complained loudly that they had gotten lunch without him.

Musichetta made a show of sighing and then linked arms with both Joly and Combeferre and swam them back over to get food. Joly glanced over his shoulder to Enjolras. “Want something?” He called.

“I’m good.”

Combeferre muttered something that made both Musichetta and Joly laugh before turning to look at her. “Cosette don’t turn your back on him for a moment—the second you do he gets into trouble.”

“Got it.” Cosette called back and turned to see Enjolras shaking his head and smiling.

Realizing they were alone again, Enjolras glanced over to Combeferre and then to Musichetta and Joly. They were all preoccupied with getting lunch and nonchalantly he leaned close to her. “Grantaire and I do it all the time. It’s not dangerous. If you want to find your father the two of us can help.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I’m actually working on a plan to slip away. We’ll be careful but we’re going to go look for him. Let me know when you’re available and either Grantaire or I will come up with a plan on where to look for him.”

“Thank you.”

“Just don’t let the others know.”

She didn’t want to lie to everyone after they all had done so much for her but if it lead her back to her Papa then it would all be worth it.

 

* * *

 

The next morning Enjolras and Grantaire arrived before Éponine woke up. Enjolras smiled charmingly at Fantine and promised that they were taking her to see the reef for the day. Cosette knew her smile would betray the truth so she hugged her mother quickly and swam out the door.

“I don’t know about this,” She confessed when Enjolras and Grantaire caught up. Enjolras pulled her to a stop.

“If you’re not comfortable we don’t have to do this.”

“I want to, though. I’m just not really on board with the lying.” She sighed. “But it’s the only way. There’s no way they’d me go if they knew the truth.”

“And the truth is?” Said a voice from behind.

Cosette spun around, heart racing, “You were asleep when I looked in your room!”

Éponine crossed her arms and looked past her to the other two. “Where are the two of you taking her?”

“Nowhere.” Enjolras blurted out the same time Grantaire said, “The reef.” Grantaire glared at him and Enjolras just looked sheepishly back.

The dark haired girl spun around and the ripples caused Cosette to lose her balance and reach out to hold onto her. “What are the three of you planning? If you don’t tell me right now I’m not letting you go anywhere. I’ll tell Maman.”

“They said they’d help me find Papa.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“We’re going ashore.”

“We have been going ashore for months now.” Enjolras confessed and Cosette glanced back to see that Grantaire looked nearly ready to hit his head against the nearest wall.

“Excuse me you’ve- you’ve what?” Éponine gasped. “And never once did you think to take me?”

“It’s not safe for you up there. It’s nothing like you’ve built it up to be,” Enjolras tried to explain as kindly as possible.

Éponine breathed in deeply, causing her chest to puff up. “I’m sick and tired of people deciding what’s best for me. I’m coming with you.”

“We’re going to Summerhedge today, to see if there’s any clues of Cosette’s father’s whereabouts,” Grantaire told both of them quietly as they began swimming again. “I have some friends who are going to help us out. Cosette and I are going to stay indoors and come up with a drawing to help us look.”

“We’re not going to find him today but hopefully we’ll find a lead.”

They neared the gated opening in the wall and Cosette looked around, “No one’s allowed outside and yet this exists?”

“It’s one of the only ways out of the city, those that know about it do everything to protect it.” Enjolras didn’t look away from where he was unlocking the gate.

Grantaire looked up, “Once I slipped out from the ceiling.” He put his hands on his hips and wiggled them, “Can’t do that anymore.”

“How old were you when you did that? Three? Four?” Enjolras asked as he got the gate open.

Grantaire looked him up and down. “I think you could still fit,” He teased. Enjolras rolled his eyes and motioned for Éponine and Cosette to go. They did as Grantaire said, “No wait, now I’m curious, swim up there and see.”

Enjolras sighed, “How many times do you want to get me arrested?”

Éponine helped Cosette up when they reached other side and threw her arms around her in a hug that took her completely by surprise. “We’ll find your father together,” She promised and Cosette couldn’t help but hug her back.

 

Summerhedge was only about an hour and a half away, almost the same amount of time it took her to lazily walk around the island. She had been so close to home for days now and she hadn’t even realized.

They surfaced at the edge of town in front of a tiny cottage.

“We’re friends with the woman who live here,” Grantaire assured her as Enjolras handed out the potions that would turn them human. It was uncomfortably hot in her hand and the smell of rotting strawberries was overpowering when she uncapped it.

She looked to Éponine, “Together?”

“Together.” She agreed and they both tipped the vials back. The sickly sweet liquid burnt her tongue and throat as she swallowed and both of the girls grimaced.

“Eww—that’s worse than the—“ Cosette stopped mid-sentence as she began to cough up water. Her lungs ached and she was all of the sudden light headed. She kicked her legs in the water and swam to where she could stand, tugging Éponine along behind her. The girl was bobbing awkwardly in the water, a deep set panic in her eye. She kicked Cosette and then started to laugh.

“I have legs!” she whispered giddily.

Cosette smiled and glanced to shore where Grantaire was making his way to meet a woman whose arms were laden with towels.

“Ah, air.” He sighed and the woman shoved a towel at him.

“You’re always naked when I see you,” She complained as she made her way down to the water.

“Are you complaining?” he called back.

“Yes!” She laughed and then handed a towel to Enjolras and the girls. “I’m Floréal. It’s nice to meet you two.”

Cosette wrapped the towel around herself and followed her as she made her way back to the cottage, forcing a polite smile onto her face, “Likewise.”

“You must be Cosette,” The unfamiliar woman said and suddenly this felt like a terrible idea. Cosette flinched away and the woman threw up her hands to show she meant to harm.

“Oh—no—sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you. Enjolras told me about you.” Floréal smiled gently.

“I wasn’t kidding when I called him a friend-stealer.” Grantaire whispered loudly as they met him at the door.

Enjolras turned to him, displeased, “You called me a _friend-stealer_?”

“Name one of my friends you haven’t stolen.” He quipped back.

“R, love, stop flirting and go put on some clothes or do you want to be arrested for public indecency again?”

“Again?” Cosette asked in a quiet giggle.

Grantaire shushed her quickly but shrugged like it wasn’t important. Floréal looked to her with a grin. “I like you.”

“Thank you?”

Enjolras opened the door and they all piled inside. Before Floréal could direct them to where they could change—Éponine and Cosette were borrowing her clothes and apparently the other two had their own drawer—Cosette noticed another woman sitting on the couch.

Floréal followed her line of sighed, “Oh—that’s Irma. We live here together.”

“You’ve bought more fish home?” The other woman asked blankly.

“Didn’t you talk to her about this?” Grantaire’s tone was accusing and Floréal laughed.

“It’s easier to spring it on her.”

“Grantaire didn’t tell us he was turning us into merpeople until he handed us the potion.”

Irma sighed, “They’re just the same.” She squinted at Cosette, “You seem familiar though.”

“Oh—um.”

“She lived here until a month or two ago,” Grantaire informed her before he ducked into a bedroom to change with Enjolras.

Irma’s eyes went wide. “Are you the Fauchelevent girl?”

Cosette stood wrapped only in a towel with Éponine at her side facing these two strangers. She hadn’t meant to be recognized. Where did Enjolras put the potions to turn them back into merpeople—she wasn’t going to endanger her father—she’d run and never come back if she had to.

“She had to leave because she and her father were in danger. She doesn’t know where he is—that’s why she’s here.” Floréal interrupted quickly and Irma nodded.

“The only gossip I heard was that you left together. You have no reason to trust us, but I promise that we’re not going to hurt you. We’ll do whatever we can to help you find you father. I think it’s brave what you’re doing.”

“But you’re naked—“ Floréal interrupted again, and lead them to her bedroom, “Clothes are laid out in here for you.”

“Thank you,” Cosette replied as she turned and headed into the bedroom. Behind her, Éponine tripped and had to catch herself on the doorframe, a bewildered look on her face.

“Your first time with legs?” Irma asked dryly.

“Kind of,” Éponine confessed. “I was human until I was four or five.”

“Take it slow. One foot in front of the other—you’re already doing much better than Enjolras did his first time—he could barely crawl.”

“He heard that!” Grantaire called gleefully.

After they got dressed—and Éponine looked distinctly uncomfortable with wearing so many layers—they split into two groups. Irma, Floréal, Enjolras, and Éponine went to see if they could find any hint of her father and if he left with the knowledge that Cosette’s ship sunk, leaving Cosette and Grantaire in the safety of the cabin where they were to come up with a drawing of her papa.

“I can’t believe I came all this way to sit inside and draw,” Cosette sighed after the others had left.

“You’re not drawing, I am,” Grantaire said from where he rummaged around in the drawers for paper and charcoal. “Unless you can draw, in which case go right ahead.”

“Not really.”

Grantaire came back over to the table and unceremoniously dumped everything upon it, “Too late. I already want to see your rendition of your father. You draw him and then I’ll draw what I think he looks like and we’ll compare.”

“This is going to be a disaster,” Cosette told him blankly but Grantaire was already drawing the outline of a man’s face. “Why do you and Enjolras come here all the time?”

Grantaire didn’t look up and it wasn’t because he was focused, “Things are bad at home. They need to change. Enjolras is under the belief that the key to that change is found on land—in the governments here. He hounded me until I agreed to make the potion for him and well, I couldn’t let him go alone.”

“I don’t know what I expected.”

“Yeah,” Grantaire agreed and then held up his paper, “How’d I do?”

Cosette took one look at the huge mustache and fierce gaze before she started to laugh.

 

As soon as they entered Courfeyrac and Jehan’s apartment later that day, Marius was on them. “Where have you been, Cosette! We’ve been looking everywhere for you we were so worried!”

“Enjolras…” Combeferre began and Bossuet nudged past him.

“Is what I think is happening happening?”

Behind her, Grantaire him and sighed. “Oh good literally all our friends are here.”

“Please tell me you’re not going on land,” Courfeyrac scowled and Cosette honestly thought he’d be elated at the blatant rule-breaking.

Joly turned his glare to Grantaire who threw his hands up in surrender. “I can’t say no to him, no matter how bad the idea.”

“You used to be able to.” Bossuet accused him lightly.

“You need to shut your mouth before I do it for you.”

“Keep your gross foreplay away from my boyfriend.” Joly threw himself in front of Bossuet and a faint blush crept into Grantaire’s cheeks. Musichetta laughed from her seat on the couch next to Feuilly who looked pale.

“Don’t be mad at them—they’re doing it for me.” Cosette looked around the room, trying to gauge how everyone felt at once.  

“We’re not mad at them for helping you, we’re mad at them for lying about where they were and doing this without our help and going on land so often they managed to pull this off like it was no big deal.”

“Sorry,” Grantaire shrugged and Enjolras elbowed him.

“How’d you figure it out?” Enjolras asked the room.

“Yesterday you mentioned Cosette wanted to find her father and today you’re all missing.” Joly told him gently, “It wasn’t very hard to make the connection, you lopsided horseshoe crab.”

Cosette ran her fingers through her hair. “But I have to find Papa...”

“Cosette…” Feuilly sighed but Marius jumped into action.

“What did you find out? Were you seen? Men are after your father. It’s not safe for you there.”

“No one knows what happened. My father and I just vanished.”

Enjolras moved to stand next to her. “No one knows if they left together or apart. The last time your father was seen was before news of the shipwreck came back but that doesn’t mean he left without knowing.”

“He wouldn’t go straight there. News could have reached him at any port,” Feuilly added.

“Fairwick’s safe.”

“Would he want safe without you?” Grantaire asked and Cosette looked away.

“I won’t stop looking,” She said determinedly, hands crossed over her chest.

“We’re obviously not trying to make you,” Enjolras’ voice was as gentle as it went. “We just need to know where to look. Is your father in Fairwick? Is he hunting down the men who chased you onto that ship?”

“It’s okay if you don’t know,” Musichetta assured her.

“You’re looking for your father?”

Cosette spun around to see her mother in the doorway. Éponine swam over to her and took her arm, “Maman what are you doing here?”

“Jehan invited me for dinner so I could meet Cosette’s friends.” She looked around the room at everyone’s concerned faces. Jehan winced and sunk back into the coral couch. “What’s going on?”

Éponine glanced to Cosette who nodded, “Cosette, Grantaire, Enjolras, and I spent the day looking for her father. On land.”

Fantine sank down onto the couch, “You were on _land_?”

Cosette rushed to Éponine’s side. “Please don’t be mad at her, she only did it to help me!”

“Of course she did. Oh god, Cosette, I can’t believe you went on land as well. There’s people looking for you.”

“She and I stayed in a friend of mine’s house while the others searched the city,” Grantaire added as he leaned against Enjolras who was frowning at the world in general. Either his plans usually never backfired this badly or he was always this upset when they did. “We came up with a drawing of her father to help us look.”

“Éponine went out—in Summerhedge—but your birth parents.”

“We didn’t run into them.” Enjolras assured her quickly. “And if we did we wouldn’t let them get close. We’d leave right away.”

Fantine nodded once at Enjolras, hesitantly, and then turned back to Cosette. “What are your plans once you find your father?”

“I don’t know. Fairwick’s safe but—“

“It's safer here.” Fantine spoke softly and both Cosette and Éponine looked up. “You and your father are welcome to live with me and Éponine. We have the room.”

“Really?”

“Of course. I’ve always wanted what was best for you, my love. Do you really think I wouldn’t open my home to my daughter and her father?”

“Thank you. That means so much to me. I won’t have to leave everyone…” She glanced around the room, Joly smiled at her and she smiled back. They had only just met but already they were friends. And the thought of leaving Éponine wasn’t even something she wanted to entertain.

“I’ll help you with whatever you need,” Fantine said and grabbed Cosette’s hands.

“Thank you, Maman. We’ll be safe. I promise.”

Fantine looked up at the room in general. “Now tell me what you found out and let’s come up with a plan together.”

“Over dinner?” Jehan asked hopefully.

“You literally ate the entire time you were cooking,” Courfeyrac sighed, but pulled Combeferre into the kitchen to help get the food anyway.

 

***

 

They devised a system for choosing ports to search which was largely ruled by how much free time they had. Some of them would be missed more than others: Courfeyrac and Musichetta’s jobs only allowed them to have one day off at a time but Jehan, Éponine and Bahorel could go days before anyone noticed they were missing. Everyone took a turn except for Joly who quietly refused to go through the merman to human process and everyone respected his wishes. He had sat up with Cosette one night and told her about the man who tried to drown him, how he clung to driftwood for two days until Grantaire’s grandfather found him.

Cosette searched every port with each eclectic bunch of friends until they came face to face with a ravenous shark and were forced to hide out in a reef for a night. That had been the final straw for Feuilly.

“You shouldn’t put yourself in danger like that every day,” he had argued.

“He’s my father,” Cosette had told Feuilly fiercely. There were others there—she could distinctly remember the proud look on Courfeyrac’s face. “I should be the one in danger looking for him—not you—not anyone else.”

“Well we’re your friends and I say that’s bullshit.”

“Human word!” Jehan had called and Grantaire did a shot of a sluggish green liquid that was the undersea equivalent of ale.

“Cosette. We’re taking turns and that’s final.”

“Listen to your brother, Cosette, before Marius gets here and worries his head off.” Marius had, at some point, mentioned that Cosette and Feuilly were brother and sister and it stuck with the others, no matter how many times they told them they had just been pretending. 

“Yeah, get on the rotation for Marius’ sake. He’s already going to freak out when he finds out you were almost Jehan’d.” Jehan, of course, had protested loudly and hit Courfeyrac.

Cosette had glared at the room. “I want double what everyone else has.”

“Deal.” Three merpeople said at once, and that was that. Courfeyrac lovingly referred to the event as The Only Time He’d Ever Seen Cosette Angry.

After that the only thing for them to do was slowly integrate themselves into undersea life.

A friend of Éponine’s, Montparnasse, who featured heavily in Jehan’s newspaper column story, got them all fake papers. At Cosette’s request, she and Feuilly were legally siblings in the mercommunity. Feuilly had cried a bit when he found out but hid behind Enjolras and denied it fiercely.

It took Courfeyrac no time at all before he swept up Marius and moved him into his and Jehan’s apartment. Marius and Jehan were over at Fantine’s nearly every day regardless: Jehan for the bookshop and Marius for Cosette. Éponine complained loudly about how sick Marius and Cosette were making her but her smile was fond and there was no longer hurt in her eyes. It was a relief to finally be able to read Éponine better and to recognize her feelings as what they were—hurting her was the last thing Cosette wanted to do.

Feuilly stayed with Bahorel where he was registered at the University nearly the same moment Montparnasse delivered their papers. Enjolras and Combeferre frequently swept him up for brainstorming and planning sessions and Courfeyrac complained to anyone who would listen that he was being replaced. Seeing as the complaining almost always took place in the same room after Courfeyrac got bored with the conversation and wandered away from the three of them, no one paid him much mind. Over time, Feuilly made Jehan three more fins so he could switch out depending on his mood. Jehan fawned over him, which in turn endeared Feuilly to the group even more.

Cosette stayed in her mother’s spare room. When they found her papa, she’d move in with Éponine but for now she let the girl have her space. Cosette spent most of her free time helping Fantine with the shop and editing Jehan’s articles though he kept trying to convince her to write her own. She was the legal kind of illegal, he argued, and she didn't have to keep making Bahorel look good--she could write under her own name.

Her life was one thing after another. Everyone took turns teaching them about rules and customs—like why everyone took off for an algae bloom even if it wasn’t visible from the confines of the city. The city had only been isolated for five years, shortly after Jehan’s injury. A coincidence he said, his attack had nothing to do with it, it had been in motion for a long time. It didn’t stop people from blaming him though, which entertained him to no end seeing as he snuck out all the time.

Everything started to have a rhythm, even searching cities for her papa. She was growing used to coming back with nothing and starting to believe she’d never find him again.

 

But then, one day, it happened.

 

Feuilly was the one to mention it: a port about half a week’s journey away. It was a tiny port, more of a restocking location than a real destination that most of the ships headed to Fairwick had to stop at. Éponine and Grantaire immediately started spreading rumors they had squid flu and would therefore be confined to a bed for the next week at least. Enjolras had glared and started on about how many days of class Grantaire had missed already. The merman had merely smiled, kissed his cheek and assured him he’d still get his degree before Bahorel. Marius and Cosette were still new enough that their presence wouldn’t be missed, they mostly kept to the bookshop anyway and Fantine and Jehan were tremendous liars. Enjolras, the last member of their group to make the trek with them, had merely told his boss he was leaving the city for a week. Enjolras’ boss was a gorgeous mermaid named Lamarque who, according to Grantaire, was “a crazy liberal who was going to probably give Enjolras a promotion for his blatant disregard for the law and also get herself killed one day.” His voice had been fond though and all Cosette’s friends seemed to adore her.

Fantine had cried when they left which, in turn, made Cosette cry and the two had taken an extra half hour to say their goodbyes. Marius had held her hand the entire first day because of it. Éponine had swam in between Cosette and Marius and Enjolras and Grantaire and told them all multiple times she had made a terrible mistake and should have brought someone else for company.  

After a month of searching they had a routine. For the sake of modesty, they purchased skirted women’s swimwear (this led to Grantaire being called the “most hideous woman alive”—a statement to which Enjolras had responded, “Did you hear that? I’m pretty.” Grantaire had laughed for days). The day before they entered a city they found a secluded spot a few miles down the road to dry their clothes and luggage (their shoes never properly dried and Cosette squeaked on every wooden surface she walked across). They rented rooms for the night and then headed into the city first thing in the morning. Before they did any real searching, they found an isolated spot of ocean where they could make a quick getaway if needed—which was where they were coming from when Cosette’s world came spinning to a halt.

Grantaire, as per usual, had his arms spread wide as if he were addressing the entirety of the city at once, “Cosette, you left the sea because it wasn’t safe and then left land because it was no longer safe either. Maybe you should look into the sky? Third time’s the charm and all that.” He had taken up joking with her like it was his job to keep her spirits up after months of nothing but failure. It was working; Cosette scanned the crowed but did so with a smile on her face.

“I always wondered what it would be like to fly.” She laughed, “I imagine a bit like swimming but lighter.”

“Cosette.” Marius said sharply and her laughter caught in her throat. “Look at that man walking out of the side road.”

Cosette looked over to where Marius was facing and gasped, she stepped forward and paused before stating, “It’s him.” She turned, her eyes filled with tears, “It’s him. I’m sure of it.”

“Go get him.” Éponine’s eyes were wide and she looked from Cosette to the man walking away from them. Cosette turned and started running. Enjolras hurried after her down the street.

“Papa!” Cosette shouted.

The man turned and gasped at the sight of his daughter running towards him. He pulled the woman into his arms and hugging her tightly.

Enjolras hung back, looking on fondly.

He was here. She was holding her father again. He was here and he was safe and she had to get a hold of herself because sobbing the in the middle of the street was creating a scene. Taking a deep breath, she stepped away from her father and wiped her eyes.

“Papa,” Cosette said, turning to the man behind her. “This is Enjolras. He helped me find you.”

“You were looking for me?”

“Of course I was looking for you!” She grabbed her father’s arm, tears welling up in her eyes again. Did he really think she wouldn’t?

“The ship you were on…”

Cosette took a breath to steady herself and nodded. “Sunk, yes. Papa, it’s complicated. But let’s get to the others and they can help me explain.”

“Others?” He looked at Enjolras and then at the street surrounding them as if he had missed someone.

“Marius and Feuilly are okay but—“

“Who’s Marius?” Her papa asked roughly.

“Oh,” Cosette gasped. “Oh my gosh that’s right—you haven’t met yet.”

“Cosette. Who’s Marius?”

“You’ll like him.” Cosette assured him, but the look on his face said he had a suspicion he wouldn’t.

“It’s nice to meet you, sir,” Enjolras spoke stiffly. “Perhaps we could continue the conversation on the way to the water?”

“Right. Yeah. We should hurry up and go. Now that we’ve found you we shouldn’t waste time getting back,” Cosette said. “Every minute we’re away is putting everyone in more and more danger.”

She took her father’s arm and lead him down the road. He allowed himself to be dragged along in a blind kind of shocked confusion.

Enjolras walked next to them as they made their way back towards the spot of beach they had found earlier and then paused, “I’ll catch up with you in a second.”

“Enjolras—“ she protested but the blond had already turned and began to head down a side street before she could so much as step towards him. Sighing heatedly, Cosette pulled her father along until they were at the ocean’s edge. She immediately began unlacing her shoes and stuffing them into her bag. Without looking up, she began to speak, “Papa, I…I don’t know why we’re being hunted but I do know that your real name is Jean Valjean and you promised my Maman that you’d protect me no matter what. I know that the Thénardiers traded their daughter for a mergirl and that you took that child from them for her own protection.”

“Cosette…” Her papa looked out to the sea and then back to her, “Cosette—your mother—“ He began as soon as she turned back to him.

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. Her daughter is the one who saved my life. My mother has opened her doors to us. She's the one that told me everything.” She smiled and looked to the sea. “Come on, the others are waiting. Our plan was for them to go back first and then the three of us so we didn’t cause a scene. Feuilly will be relieved to see you when we get back home. We didn’t know where to look for you. It was his idea to search here.”

“You’ve met your mother?”

“I have.” Cosette began to wade into the water. She used to care about when her dresses got wet. Now that was their permanent state. “Don’t worry. Having fins is weird but you get used to it. You can get used to anything.”

The water next to her rippled with sudden movement and Éponine surfaced a moment later. She brushed her hair away from her face and smiled ather papa. “Hello, sir.”

He blinked his surprise away. “You must be one of my daughter’s friends.”

“Papa, this is Éponine.”

“Oh.” He gasped, but smiled. “I met you once when you were a child.”

“Really?”

“Fantine couldn’t leave her alone and she was too curious to stay hidden.”

Enjolras came splashing into the surf behind them. “Why are you standing here? We’ll be caught. Let’s go.”

“Aye aye, Captain,” Éponine saluted, grabbing Cosette’s hand and pulling her deeper.

Cosette’s skirts floated in the water around her and she pushed them down, narrowing her eyes at Enjolras. “Where did you vanish to?”

“Not important,” he replied curtly, digging into his bag for his potion.

“Yeah, okay,” Cosette sighed, her own potion already in hand.

“Hurry—there might be someone chasing him.” Eponine laughed but still glanced back to shore as if she fully expected to see someone.

Cosette tipped her head back and downed the potion in one gulp, sinking into the water so that only her head and shoulders were visible.

“It’s safe.” She told her father the same moment Éponine assured him it was painless. Cosette ducked down under the water for a moment and then resurfaced. “See—Papa—look at my fins.” She fumbled around with her mass of skirts until she could pull them up and show off her light blue scales. Her papa looked like he was about to pass out but Cosette continued, “I’m going to go ahead with Éponine to meet up with the others and I’ll see you in a minute okay? Enjolras will take care of you. He made not seem it at first, but he’s very sweet.”

Éponine took Cosette’s hand and they dove down under the surface and around an outcropping. Marius and Grantaire both broke off their conversation at the sight of them and Marius spun around, mortified, as Cosette started pulling her dress off with Eponine’s help.

“I can’t believe Marius just saw him,” Grantaire laughed, floating aimlessly on his back, when she had changed and Marius had turned back around.

Cosette swept over to Marius and kissed him, “You’re amazing. We would have missed him if not for you!”

Marius blushed so hard, it resembled his sunburn, “Cosette—your father—“

“Don’t be scared of my father—he’s harmless.” Cosette saw Grantaire glance behind her and she spun around to see her father being dragged through the water by Enjolras. She swam over to him and took his other side. “How do you feel?” She asked him.

“I’m a fish.” He blurted out and Marius snorted. Her papa turned to glare at him and the younger man instantly sobered.

“Papa!” Cosette gasped and swam to Marius.

Jean Valjean’s face darkened. “No.” he said simply. Éponine silently reached out to steady him in the current.

“This is Marius Pontmercy.” Cosette said, ignoring him and wrapping her arm around Marius.

“Monsieur Gillenormand’s grandson.”

Marius’ eyes went wide at his grandfather’s name but then he bit his lip and looked down. “No longer, sir.”

“He will mourn you.”

“He has already. Just as he did my father—with elegance and great pomp.” His voice was bitter and Cosette squeezed his hand. She hadn’t been with him when he found out about the memorial his Grandfather had built for him, but she had tended to the wounds on his hands when he came back from destroying it.

“It’s a shame. I’ve always thought your family’s salvation lay in you.”

“My cousin—“

“Is the mirror of your grandfather.” Her papa responded gravely.

“I knew you’d like him Papa!” Cosette interrupted and she threw her arms around her father, causing the pair of them to somersault in the water. “Wait until you meet the others—and Maman! Maman is going to be so thrilled when she meets you. I told you we’re living with her and Éponine right? Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be okay from now on. We’re safe and we’re together. ”

Grantaire pressed his knuckles to his lips and turned to Éponine before addressing the man, “I don’t know if you can tell but your daughter’s been beside herself with worry.”

Cosette let go of her papa before he could respond, grabbed both Éponine and Marius’ hands and sped off with a cry of, “Come on—let’s get home.”

Jean Valjean floated awkwardly in her wake, his arms out trying to regain his balance but he kept tilting to the right. Enjolras caught his arm, “Steady, sir. It’s in the hips.”

 

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [blithely toward](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4150983) by [ideare](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ideare/pseuds/ideare)




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